Clicky
National, Back Page

PM to open metro rail on Dec 28


By BSS
Published : 15 Dec 2022 10:45 PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the country's first-ever elevated metro rail on December 28 as the much-awaited metro rail is ready for commercial operation from Uttara to Agargaon.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will formally inaugurate the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT Line)-6 of the metro rail from the capital's Uttara to Agargaon at a function at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center on December 28,” Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri told BSS on Thursday evening.

The programme will be held at 10 am on the day, he said. 

The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), a government-owned company, is implementing the metro rail project.

Earlier at a programme, DMTCL Managing Director MAN Siddique said that all sorts of construction works were completed and the MRT Line-6 was ready for commercial operation. 

Siddique said the train was operating a system trial or service trial and it would operate a blank operation (moving without passengers) from December 18 ahead of the launching of the service.

"A total of 12 trains are ready for operation, but initially 10 will run having six coaches each train while the remaining two will be on standby to ensure an uninterrupted metro rail service if any one of the operational trains faces any problem or technical glitch," he added.

The DMTCL managing director said primarily the train will run for a specific period with a limited number of passengers and the frequency between two trains will be a little bit high, but the metro rail service will go on the full pledged operation by two or three months of its inception, complying with the international standard.

Noting that the metro rail service will be launched up to Motijhil by December 2023 and Kamlapur by June 2025, Siddique said a train from Uttara north station will reach Agargaon station within 20 minutes while it will take only 40 minutes to reach Kamlapur station once the service goes on a full operation.