Commuter trains will run on short distances from tomorrow (July 25, 2024), Additional Director General of Bangladesh Railway Md Arifuzzaman said on Wednesday. “One or two commuter trains will operate from tomorrow on short distance routes. It will take time to resume operation of inter-city trains once the current situation improves,” he told UNB. Besides, network disruption also causes delay of train services as tickets are available online, he added. Read more: AP report: Bangladesh moves back to normalcy after violent clashes that killed nearly 200 people Under the circumstances, commuter trains will operate on the Dhaka-Narayanganj and Ishwardi routes while the authorities will try their level best to resume commuter trains on Dhaka-Joydebpur route, he said. The Burimari commuter train will operate from Lalmonirhat district, said the additional DG. He also said that freight trains or oil-carrying trains were operating since Monday.

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) has detained five men from the city's Kamalapur Railway Station for alleged black marketing of train tickets ahead of Eid. Acting on a tip-off that a group was selling tickets of different trains at inflated prices taking advantage of the Eid rush, a Rab-3 team conducted a drive at the railway station at 8.45 pm Monday and detained the men. The detainees were identified as Md Liton Mia, 37, Md Shah Lam, 34, Md Imran, 20, Md Abu Taher, 26, and Md Zahidur Rahman Shakib, 40, Rab-3 said in a release Tuesday. Also read: Two RNB members held for selling tickets in black market Four train tickets and Tk 6,927 in cash were seized from the detainees, said Rab-3. During questioning, the accused admitted to the crime. Legal action will be taken against the detainees, said the release. Also read: Measures to be taken if complaints found over Eid online ticketing: Minister

Zakir Hossain, a Dhaka-based doctor, travels to Rajshahi by train at least four times a month. He is doing an MPhil at Rajshahi University. "I love to travel by train as it is safe, comfortable and affordable too,” said Zakir. Of late he has some complaints too. “Buying a ticket online is proving to be a big headache for me,” said Zakir. “It is not as easy as it was before.” In conversation with this UNB correspondent recently he complained that he has to buy tickets from black market as online tickets are not always available. Read: Train tickets won’t be transferable: Railways Ministry "Since I have to travel to the university, I collect tickets from the black market at a slightly higher price,” he said. “The railway authorities must look into this corrupt practice in the interest of the passengers,” Zakir suggested. He echoed the feelings of many others who like to travel by train. They have a common complaint: a section of unscrupulous officials and employees are running a syndicate of black marketers in selling train tickets. Many passengers also complained that though they don’t  find tickets at the ticket counters, they can buy it from   shops near the stations. The problem is they have to pay some extra bucks for this. A good number of tickets are still available in the black market though the whole system of ticketing has gone digital now.    The UNB representative came up with the information after visiting various stations in the country. After logging in on the scheduled time and not getting tickets online, many people go directly to the railway stations to buy tickets, said businessman Jashim uddin, who travels from Dhaka to Benapole regularly. He added that there is no end to the suffering. Most fail to book a ticket after standing in long queues for hours. Some passengers also said that a strong syndicate has also been formed on social media which sells tickets using different online platforms at a high price. Sagar Islam, a businessman in Akhaura, is one those who is often forced to buy tickets from black market as these are not available either online or in counters. He travels from Akhuara to Dhaka for business purpose once in a week.  “When I fail to get tickets legally I go to the black market,” said he. “This way I’m forced to pay extra money and break the law as well.” How does the ticket go to the black market? Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, secretary general of Jatri Kallayan Samity, blamed the system of keeping some tickets reserved for railway staff. “This system is used to create artificial scarcity of train tickets,” he said. Railway authorities refuted the allegation, though. “The complaint of keeping tickets booked for officials is not correct,” said Shawkat Jamil Mehedi, a divisional commercial officer of Bangladesh Railway. According to him only two per cent of the tickets are reserved in the name of officials and employees and also for emergency use. “There is no reason for buying too many tickets in their names,” he said.