CHATTOGRAM, Mar 3: The Bangladesh Railway (BR) has taken a special step to enhance more train service during the upcoming Eid Festival in order to make Eid journey more comfortable for homegoers.
Bangladesh Railway sources said more special trains will be introduced during the Eid holiday in all the routes. The special service will kick-off from March 13 next.
In this connection Bangladesh Railway workshops have been repairing engines and carriages (bogies) to prepare for the heavy demand of the upcoming Eid journey, although a significant locomotive shortage has reduced the number of available special trains.
Repairs are actively taking place, including bogie maintenance and engine overhauls in workshops particularly in Pahartali in Chattogram.
These maintenance efforts aim to mitigate, as much as possible, the inconvenience caused to passengers traveling home for the holidays.
At the Pahartali Railway workshop, repair work is ongoing on 105 coaches. All of them will be handed over to the Transport Department by March 13, sources said.
To ease passenger pressure, 4 to 5 additional coaches will be added to regular trains.
Officials say at least 90 locomotives are needed to maintain regular train services in the eastern region during Eid.
Railway sources said that the demand for engines is similar to last year. Although the number of operational engines is slightly below demand, the shortfall may be managed by reallocating engines, as freight train services are usually suspended during Eid.
According to sources, 154 of the railway's 297 locomotives-about 51 percent-have exceeded their economic lifespan of 20 years. Many are between 20 and 40 years old, which affects reliability.
Currently, 7 to 8 old engines are repaired daily at the Pahartali Diesel Shop. However, officials say a shortage of skilled manpower and quality spare parts often limits long-term effectiveness.
Despite these constraints, railway authorities say they are working to keep the required number of engines operational so that passengers can travel home without major disruption during Eid.
Meanwhile, tickets sale for travel on March 13 began from Tuesday, with advance bookings for the Eid period continuing until March 19.
This year, all advance tickets are being sold online, according to Bangladesh Railway sources.
Passengers can purchase tickets via the Rail Sheba app and the official website, with Shohoz-Synesis-Vincen JV handling online ticketing operations.
New usage guidelines have been implemented on the Rail Sheba platform to prevent server overload and automated seat booking. Users sending ten or more requests to the same URL within a minute will be blocked for five minutes.
Similarly, if a user selects a seat three or more times within 15 minutes, their seat selection facility will be temporarily disabled for one hour.
Ten special trains will operate across the network, and 47 extra metre-gauge coaches from the Pahartali workshop will be added to meet demand. Weekly holidays of all intercity trains have been suspended from March 16 until the day before Eid.
