The shipment process of the second metro rail set has been completed at Kobe seaport in Japan last Wednesday and it is expected that those coaches will reach the country by June 16.
The overall construction progress of the country's first metro rail is 61.49 percent while the construction work in the Agargaon from Uttara of the first phase has achieved 83.52 percent progress.
Awami League General Secretary and Minister for Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader briefed on the latest developments of Metrorail construction from his official residence on Thursday.
The bridge minister said the overall progress in the procurement of electrical and mechanical systems and rolling stock depot equipment is 52.22 percent.
He said, “Our first consignment of metro rail consisting six coaches has already arrived in the newly constructed metro rail depot jetty on April 21 and we expect that the second set of coaches will reach Uttara depot via Mongla port by June 16”.
“Similarly, the shipment of the third and fourth Metrorail sets is likely to reach Uttara depot through Mongla Port in between June 11 and August 13,” he added.
Meanwhile, the first metro rail coaches has been installed on the rail track at Uttara depot on Thursday.
According to an official concerned, within Thursday four metro rail coaches are scheduled to take inside the depot while the rest two coaches will be taken inside the depot within today (Friday). After installing the coaches, everything will be examined properly.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL) managing director MAN Siddique said, “Today we are very happy as we have installed the first metro rail coaches in our depot rail line. Installation work is continuing maintaining full safety and carefulness”.
He added that there is a lot of work to be done after the coaches are installed on the railway tracks. A lot of things need to be checked to connect the electrical lines.
According to DMTCL sources, the total cost of 24 sets of trains is Tk 257.34 crore. The trains will have DC 1500 voltage power supply system. Those trains will have vertical seats. Each train will have two wheelchairs. Each air-conditioned bogie will have four doors on each side. Each train with Japanese standard security will have a passenger capacity of 1,738. There will be smart card ticketing system for paying fare.
