The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) has fixed the new schedule for running the metro rail for the last 15 days of Ramadan.
As per the decision, passengers will get an additional hour from the 16th Ramadan, the fasting month for the Muslims and the passengers will be able to carry only a 250 ml water bottle during the time of iftar.
“The metro rail will run for an additional hour from 8:00am to 9:40pm from the 16th day of the upcoming month of Ramadan,” DMTCL managing director MAN Siddique told reporters at a briefing on Sunday.
As per the new schedule, the last train from Motijheel will leave at 9:40pm and the last train from Uttara will leave at 9:20pm. However, the timing of the metro rail service will remain unchanged during the first 15 days of the Ramadan.
Siddique said that passengers will be able to carry a 250 ml water bottle during the time of iftar as carrying any other food in the metro rail is not allowed.
He said that no food item would be allowed inside Concourse Plaza, Platform and Metrorail at the time of Iftar.
“After drinking the water, the bottle must be dumped at a designated bins rather than anywhere else,” he said, adding that the timing of iftar would be displayed on LED screen both inside and outside of the train.
During the Ramadan, the authorities concerned also allow the passengers to stay maximum 75 minutes in the metro station instead of 60 minutes at the regular paid zone using Metrorail MRT Pass.
At present, any passenger can stay maximum 60 minutes in the station.
However, any passengers will have to count Tk 100 as fine for overstaying there, he said.
The metro rail will operate at 12-minute intervals during the extended period and there will be a total of 10 additional trips at both ends, Siddique said.
The number of trips will be 194 times carrying some 447,752 passengers per day, he said, adding that metro rail services will be suspended on Eid day.