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The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) plans to open the metro rail route from Uttara to Motijheel before December for the public, ahead of the original launching schedule considering commuters’ interest.
Authorities had originally intended to open the Agargaon-Motijheel section of the metro rail by December after completion of construction works. The route will be extended further to Kamalapur by June, 2025.
“We are trying to commission the Agargaon-Motijheel section early. We may open stations in phases if we cannot open all stations as per our plan. The date of the commission will be announced after two months,” MAN Siddique, managing director of DMTCL, said during a briefing on Thursday.
Currently they are operating trains from Uttara to Agargaon six hours a day from 8am. The operating hours will be extended to 8pm from May 31. However, the service will be off on Friday. DMTCL will start the trial run of the trains on the Agargaon-Motijheel route in July. This trial may continue for two months or more.
“Construction works of 90 to 95 per cent of the route up to Motijheel has been completed station wise. Now works on platforms’ entry-exit and electrical works are ongoing. The total work progress is more than 90 per cent,” said Siddique.
“Motijheel will be the last station. After finishing the test run and other works, we will announce which stations on the route will be opened primarily during commissioning,” he added.
Work progress on Kamalapur section
About the progress to extend the metro rail line to Kamalapur, the DMTCL MD said, “Our target is to extend the train service up to Kamalapur by June 2025. We hope to achieve the target. We have completed the land acquisition process, designing and other relevant works. Now we are doing civil works.”
“Soil test has been completed. We now have piling and pile cap installation work going on. There are 176 piles to build, out of which 31 have been completed. Two pier caps of total 63 are in place, two more will be done next week,” he said.
New schedule
Metro rail’s running time between Uttara North and Agargaon is set to be extended by another six hours from May 31.
According to the new schedule, the metro rail will now run from 8am to 8pm six days a week. The new schedule divides the 12 hours of the day into four parts. Metro rail will run every 10 minutes during peak hours from 8am to 11am and every 15 minutes from 11am to 3pm taking into account off-peak hours.
Similarly, the metro trains will run every 10 minutes from 3pm to 6pm during peak hours and every 15 minutes from 6pm to 8pm in consideration of off-peak hours. No train will run on the upcoming Eid-ul-Adha day.
The special police unit for metro rail will be formed soon as the matter has been approved on April 12. The required paperwork in this regard will be done soon.
