The sale of online ticket of Bangladesh Railway will remain suspended from March 21 to March 25 for facilitating the handover of responsibilities to a new service provider.
Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan said this at a press briefing at the ail Bhaban in Dhaka on Monday.
During the period, cent per cent of the tickets will be sold manually from the counters.
The railways minister said a five-year agreement was signed with ‘Shohoz-Synesis-Vinsen JV’ on February 15 to operate the ticketing system of Bangladesh Railway. Earlier, CNS was involved in the work.
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In order to re-activate the computer ticketing system by ‘Shohoz’ at 77 stations, it will require minimum five days.
The computerised ticketing system of Bangladesh Railway will be re-launched through ‘Shohoz’ from March 26.
Under the agreement, ‘Shohoz-Synesis-Vinsen JV’ will initially operate the existing CCSRTS system that will be replaced by BRITS in the next 18 months.
"We are working to make the railway services modern and up-to-date," the minister said.
He also said Bangladesh Railway has not yet developed its own capacity to sell tickets. “And so, we have to rely on private organizations for this.”
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About 90,000 train tickets are issued daily while about 27 lakh monthly through computers. About 50 per cent of these tickets are being issued online or mobile app.