Dream metro rail to get on track Sunday

The authorities will test run metro rail coaches on the main viaduct on Sunday morning.

The performance test of the much-anticipated project will take place at 10am on the day, said MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL).

Siddique said the set of coaches arrived in Dhaka in April this year will be put in the test. The set has already completed its test run in the depot, and it succeeded, he added.    

Sources at the DMTCL said the performance test will take place at a patch that has the construction of stations and depots completed.

Siddique, however, said they are yet to finalise the test run stretch. "We are checking technical details of the recently completed rail tracks. The decision about the patch of the test run will be taken on Sunday morning based on that."        

"There will be an integrated test run after a successful performance test to verify the system connecting the stations. Afterwards, there will be trial runs. If all these go well, metro rail will go into commercial operations next year," he noted.      

The third phase of the metro rail project connecting a 20.10 km stretch from Uttara to Motijheel was taken up in 2021. Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) is funding the Tk22,000 crore mega-project.

The rail construction was later decided to expand to Kamalapur. With the extension, the length of the metro infrastructure will be 21.26 km.    

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%.   

Sources at the DMTCL said 24 trains will carry passengers on the Uttara-Motijheel route as four trains have arrived in the country from Japan so far.