Metro rail goes on Uttara-Mirpur trial run

The much-hyped Metro Rail Line-6 has conducted a trial run from Uttara's Diabari to Mirpur in the capital.

MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd, said that they put six couches on a trial run from Diya Bari to Mirpur in the morning to check the track from Uttara to Agargaon.

It also stopped at each of the stations.

As part of the preparations for launching the country’s first-ever metro rail project, a set of metro train was brought out of the depot and was run on the route for the first time for performance check, authorities said.

Commuters were seen to express excitement to see the metro rail in operation, be it experimentally, for the first time.

According to Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) sources, another trial run will be conducted on Sunday from the depot to the stations where work has been completed.

Around 68.49 percent of the overall progress of the project from Uttara to Motijheel has been completed in July.

According to the project details, 88.18 percent of the first phase of the metro rail project between Uttara and Agargaon has been completed. Similarly, the progress of the Agargaon to Motijheel part of the project is now 66.74 percent.

Bangladesh’s long wait for its first-ever metro rail is going to be over by December 2022 as work on the project has gained momentum despite disruptions by the coronavirus pandemic.

Four sets of trains -- each comprising six air-conditioned coaches -- have already reached Bangladesh from Japan and five more sets are scheduled to arrive by September next.

The Metro Rail Line-6 consists of 16 elevated stations, each 180m long, with 20.1 km of electricity-powered light rail tracks, and is expected to transport more than 60,000 passengers every hour from both sides with a delay time of approximately 43 seconds.

The project, which has been estimated to cost a total of Tk 22,000 crore, will get funding of Tk 16595 crore from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The rest of the sum will be provided from the government exchequer.