14 metro rail sets to be made by this year

Dhaka metro rail company is likely to get 14 sets of train manufactured by this year against its target of 24 sets, as the global coronavirus pandemic delayed their manufacturing process by almost a year.

Sources said Japanese company Kawasaki Heavy Industries already manufactured seven sets of the train, of which one reached the depot location at Diabari in Uttara on April 23, and another at the Mongla Port.

The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) is a state-owned company, formed to implement, operate and maintain mass rapid transits (MRTs) in the city.

It awarded the Japanese consortium of Kawasaki and Mitsubishi in August 2017 the work to manufacture and supply 24 sets of train by December 2021 for the MRT line-6, being constructed from Uttara to Kamlapur rail station.

The first set of train, having six coaches, was supposed to arrive in the country in April last year.

Sources said despite the delay, the Japanese consortium is set to ship sets number-3 and 4 of the manufactured trains from the Kobe Port next month, while the next two sets are planned to arrive in the country by September.

"We now expect that one set of train will be ready in Japan every month, from next month. The first train set that arrived in the country has successfully gone through initial tests," said a source preferring not to be named, as he is not the authority to talk to press.

He said total 14 sets of trains will be ready by December next, but arrival of all those trains may not be possible due to procedural complicacy including Covid-19  situation that makes the situation uncertain.

It took 15 days to complete customs clearance of the first train set of six cars at the Mongla Port, and six days to reach at the depot jetty.

Following the coronavirus situation, the DMTCL authority could not complete inspection of the ready trains in Japan, and finally managed it through a third-party company in this February. Shipment of the first set took almost a year in March.

Sources said after conducting typed test and performance test at the workshop on depot site, the Japanese company has given a plan to complete all the tests, including integrating test, by August.

The first train set rolled on its performance test on the track of the depot on May 11. But its planned test run on test track was delayed for a week.

The DMTCL earlier announced to launch the MRT line-6 by this December, but it has been delayed for an uncertain period. However, the company now says it is hopeful of launching the first metro rail in the country before the project's original tenure of 2024.