The metro rail project implementation authorities conducted the performance test of the much awaited overhead metro rail on the main track on Sunday, touching a new milestone in the country’s communication history.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), which is implementing the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6, also known as metro rail project, carried out the performance test on viaduct from Uttara to Pallabi without passengers.
DMTCL Managing Director MAN Siddique said for the first time the train crossed four stations — Uttara North, South, Central and Pallabi.
For the test, it was running at a speed of maximum 25km per hour, he added.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader inaugurated the test run from the metro rail depot at Uttara around 11:50am.
He said metro rail is no more a dream, it is now a reality in Bangladesh.
The Awami League government’s three mega projects — metro rail, Padma Bridge, and Karnaphuli tunnel — would be inaugurated for public by next year, the minister added.
After the performance test, the MRT Line-6 will conduct integrated test.
Earlier on Friday, the DMTCL conducted test run of metro rail with six coaches on Diabari-Mirpur route for the first time.
After the performance test, the first set of metro train will go for trial run on the same viaduct and after successfully completion of the trial run, it will go for commercial operation on 14.50km railway line from Uttara depot to Agargaon next year.
A train comprising six cars will be able to carry a maximum of 2,308 people at a time, MAN Siddique said earlier.
A total of 24 trains will move at a speed of 100km per hour from every 3:30 minutes during peak hours. Four sets of the car have already reached Bangladesh, he said.
The cars manufactured by Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.
Construction work of all metro stations has been going on in full swing amid the Covid-19 pandemic through maintaining health guidelines.
The metro rail is projected to carry 60,000 passengers per hour by travelling the entire route of 21.26km from Uttara to Motijheel-Kamalapur railway station in less than 40 minutes.
The project started in 2012 but construction work began on June 26, 2016, at a cost of Tk 21,985 crore.
The government had earlier planned to inaugurate the first phase of the metro rail from Uttara to Agargaon by December 2021 to mark the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence.
Siddique said they have revised the plan, extending the deadline now until December 2022 due to the Covid-19 situation, which hampered the project works significantly.
According to a monthly progress report in July, the overall progress of the fast-track project was 68.49 per cent. The first phase saw 88.18 per cent progress and the second phase — from Agargaon to Motijheel — 66.74 per cent. The installation of tracks and other equipment and procurement of cars saw 60.66 per cent progress.
Metrorail will be the country's first electricity-powered trains contrary to the conventional trains that are run by diesel-powered engines, said the officials.
