Shihab Uddin wasted no time after finishing his sehri to rush to Kamalapur Railway Station to buy tickets for June 14.

Upon reaching the station, he could not believe his eyes as the queue of ticketseekers had already spiraled.

Shihab, a private sector employee wishing to celebrate Eid with his family in Rajshahi, stood in one of the queues that stretched out on the main platform around 4:30am.

"I could only proceed 10 yards after standing for more than six hours. The way the line is moving, I am very sceptical about getting a ticket,” a frustrated Shihab said around 11:30am.

Like Shihab, thousands of people were standing in queues for hours in sweltering heat as Kamalapur Railway Station saw a massive crowd yesterday. Many of them did not get their expected tickets.

"I have not seen such a huge crowd in recent years," Sitangshu Chakraborty, station manager of Kamalapur, told The Daily Star yesterday.

The railway authorities started selling advance tickets from June 1. It sold tickets for June 14 from 8:00am yesterday. Tickets were being sold at 26 counters, up from 23 last year, including two for women.

Sixty-five percent of the tickets were sole at the station and 25 percent online. Also, five percent each were reserved for VIPs anc railway employees.

If Eid is celebrated on June 16, then June 14 (Thursday) is the last working day before the holiday. That is the reason why the station witnessed such massive crowds foi tickets yesterday, railway officials said.

Besides, this year more people are opting for train journey ispeculating hassles due tc bad road conditions.

Sitangshu Chakraborty said as many at 27,461 advance train tickets were up for salt at the station yesterday.

"Most of the ticket-seekers are getting tickets. With our limited resources, we are trying our best to serve people," he said.

However, many did not get their expectec tickets, with complaints that tickets for AC cabins were sold out minutes after opening of the tickets counters.

The station manager said there was < scarcity of AC cabin tickets.

The authorities will sell advance tickets for June 15 today.

Return tickets for June 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. and 24 will be sold on June 10, 11, 12, 13. 14, and 15 respectively at Rajshahi, Khulna. Rangpur, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat trair stations. Meanwhile, Chittagong Railway Station was also overcrowded yesterday due to the rush for buying advance train tickets, our Chittagong correspondent reported.

Station Manager Abul Kalam Azad informed that 6,636 tickets out of 9,522 were being sold at 10 counters. Rest of the tickets were being sold online and a percentage of those was kept for VIPs and railway employees.