Female passengers endure untold sufferings at Kamalapur station

To avoid traffic on highways, hundreds if not thousands, a large number of them being women, thronged Kamalapur Railway Station to buy advance train tickets for the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.

Although the authorities were scheduled to start selling tickets at 8am on Sunday, many women passengers started queuing up in front of the only dedicated counter of the railway station since yesterday night.

Many passed a sleepless night to get advance tickets for 7 July on the third day of Bangladesh Railway's (BR) special sales arrangements ahead of the Eid holidays.

However, a large number of them are not likely to get tickets as many complained that despite waiting in the long line for hours they could not secure tickets for their desired destinations.

Sumi, who had been standing in the line since 4am today (3 July), said, "I came to the very early today. I was here [at the station] yesterday as well. 

"My ancestral home is in Rangpur. A ticket of the Rangpur or Lalmoni express would've worked for me. But, according to rail officials, all the tickets got sold out around 11:30am," a frustrated and tired Sumi added.

Echoing the same, Sadia, another passenger, said, "I have been waiting in the line for hours. I haven't eaten anything yet. 

"The line is very long and it barely moves forward. There is no end to our sufferings. No one's there to help us."

"If I want to get a ticket, I will have to stay at the station tonight," she added.

When asked about the lack of facilities for women passengers and scarcity of tickets, Kamalapur Railway Station Manager, Mohammad Masud Sarwar said, "For Eid-ul-Azha we have one dedicated counter for female passengers. Tickets for 7-8 trains are being sold from here. 

"We are trying our best to accommodate everyone. We will look into the complaints made by the female ticket seekers and take necessary steps."

BR will continue to sell advance Eid tickets till Tuesday and return ticket sales will start on Thursday. Tickets for 6 July travel were sold on Saturday. 

Some 26,713 tickets are being sold each day. Half of the tickets are available at ticket counters and the rest are online.

Tickets for 7, 8 and 9 July travels will be available on 3, 4 and 5 July respectively. Return tickets will be on sale from 7 July. The tickets for 11, 12 and 13 July will be sold on 7, 8 and 9 July while the advance tickets for 14 and 15 July will be available on 11 July.