Dhaka: Bangladesh Railway started selling advance train tickets on Tuesday for the home-bound people on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha.

The ticket sale started at Kamalapur railway station in the city at about 9:00am.

During a spot visit, the UNB reporter found several hundred people waiting in long queues for collecting tickets for the Eid journey on 20 September.

Railways Minister Mujibul Haque during his visit to Kamalapur railway station in the morning said train journey schedules will be normal during Eid and the authorities concerned have been asked to maintain the schedules during the period.

Some 138 coaches from the workshop will be added to the existing ones while a total of 224 locomotives will be in operation across the country every day ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, he said.

The minister added law enforcers and mobile court have been deployed to check black marketing of tickets.

The tickets for 21 September will be sold on 16 September; tickets for 22 September on 17 September, tickets for 23 September on 18 September and tickets for 24 September will be available at Dhaka and Chittagong stations on 19 September, said railway officials.

The tickets for return journey from 27 September to 1 October will be sold from 23 September to 27 September and those will be available at Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat stations, said officials.