Country’s first-ever metro rail made its first journey on Wednesday with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the first passenger.
Sheikh Hasina, the eldest daughter of the founder of Bangladesh and Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, made the journey by the metro rail buying a ticket, as she set another milestone in the country's communication history between a span of six-months after opening the dream Padma Bridge.
The first ever metro train, carrying Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana along with around 200 other passengers left North Uttara for Agargaon at 01:53pm on Wednesday.
Around 200 passengers including freedom fighters, Speaker, ministers, government officials, diplomats, school students, ethnic minority people and others joined the premier in the maiden metro rail journey.
Bangladesh entered a new era Wednesday as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the country's first-ever elevated metro rail in the capital Dhaka yesterday morning.
She flagged off the service of the train at North Uttara station. There she also wrote on the green flags which were used to flag off the train.
Earlier, the Prime Minister collected the ticket at about 01:35pm at the North Uttara station along with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, another daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Later, both of them punched their ticket at the entry of the station and boarded on the train.
After the arrival at the North Uttara Station, the Prime Minister planted a sapling there. Her sister Sheikh Rehana was also present there.
As part of empowerment of women, Mariam Afiza as the first operator drove the metro train.
Initially, the metro train will run from 8 am to 12 noon every day from Uttara to Agargaon station without any stoppage.
State-owned Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) will operate 30 double decker buses to transport passengers to and from metro rail stations.
Of those, 20 buses will be operated on Agargaon-Motijheel route via Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Shahbag and Gulistan while 10 buses will run from Uttara's House Building to Uttara's North station at Diabari via Abdullahpur.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), a government-owned company, is implementing the metro rail projects.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been constructing the metro rail and providing soft loan for the project.
The construction work of the MRT Line-6 began in 2016.