Staff Reporter :
The country’s first metro rail’s tentative operation was done in the capital on experimental basis on Friday.The train ran from Uttara’s Diabari Depot to Mirpur Pallabi Station at 10:00am.
There were six compartments from 6:00am to 10:00am. There were no problems to drive the coach. Dhaka Metro Rail Project Manager ABM Arifur Rahman said the train was operated on experimental basis safely from the Depot to Pallabi Station.
“We have stopped at different stations, and examined everything and faced no trouble on Sunday,” he said. ABM Arifur Rahman said, another train will be on Sunday (August 29) also on experimental basis.
The Metro Rail lines have been built with walls on both sides. So, the pedestrians could not see it. However, those who live in high rise buildings adjacent to the rail lines saw the movement of metro rail on the rail tracks.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) sources said passengers would not be allowed on board the Metro Rail coach since it is now being operated on experimental basis. The Metro Rail is likely to be operated from Uttara to Agargaon commercially after December 2022.
As of 31 July this year, the Uttara-Agargaon phase of the fast-track project logged 88.18% overall progress, while the Agargaon-Motijheel portion registered 66.74% progress. The overall progress of the project was 68.49%.
The country’s first Metro Rail path will be built from Uttara Diabari to Kamlapur Railway Station. At present, its construction work is going on from Diabari at Uttara to Bangladesh Bank at Motijheel. It will be extended up to Kamlapur Railway Station later on.
There will be a total of 144 coaches for the 24 train sets that will run on a 21km-route from Uttara to Kamalapur Railway Station via Agargaon, Farmgate, Dhaka University campus and Motijheel. There will be a total of 17 stations, according to project documents.
