Metro rail to run at full capacity on Uttara-Agargaon route from July

The metro rail service on the Uttara-Agargaon route will start operating at full capacity from July this year, said MAN Siddique, managing director of the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL), on Thursday.

He further said the Mirpur-11 and Kazipara metro rail stations will be opened to the public on 15 March and the remaining two stations Shewrapara and Uttara South to be operational from the last week of the month.

"After all the stations are operational, the service period will be gradually extended," MAN Siddique said at a press briefing at the DMTCL office in the capital.

He added that the metro rail will run from dawn to midnight once the full service is launched.

The managing director is hopeful about starting trial runs in the Agargaon-Motijheel section next month.

He said the construction of entries and exits at stations on the Motijheel-Agargaon section is in progress and Overhead Catenary System (OCS) wiring work is ongoing.

"I hope the installation of OCS will be completed this month, and then the trial run can start," he said.

MAN Siddique said the last of the 24 sets of trains for Line-6 will arrive in the country this month, and the full capacity of service up to Motijheel will begin by the end of the year.

He further said the issues of metro rail operations and extending the line up to Kamalapur are being given top priority.

Around 7.90 lakh passengers have travelled on the metro rail in the Uttara-Agargaon section so far, and it has generated Tk4.76 crore in revenue, said the DMTCL managing director.

"The metro rail service is at breakeven," he said, claiming that the service earned roughly equals the cost of operation.

Referring to the fact that the DMTCL had previously estimated that operating metro rail would cost around Tk3 crore per day, but the service earned Tk4.76 crore in revenue in more than two months, journalists wanted to know how the service reached the breakeven point.

In his reply, Siddique said that the information has been provided by calculating income and expenses. The real facts will come out when the enthusiasm of people wanes and the regular service starts.

The Uttara to Agargaon segment of the nation's first metro rail was made accessible to the general public on 29 December 2022.

On 25 January, the authorities opened Mirpur's Pallabi station, nearly one month after the inauguration of the service in Dhaka. And the Mirpur-10 station was opened to commuters on 1 March.

Currently, metro trains are being operated from 8:30am to 12:30pm.

By December 2024, the metro rail will start operating from Agargaon to Kamalapur with 24 trains.

The physical construction of MRT Line 1 began on 1 March.

Since the commencement of MRT Line-1 in early February by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, contractors have started work on 1 March, following the mobilisation of resources, said Project Director Abul Kashem Bhuiyan at the event.

He said that the underground metro rail is being constructed keeping in mind the kinds of earthquakes that happen in Bangladesh.

He also said that due to the construction of metro rail in arch shaped tunnels, there will not be much damage in the case of earthquakes. However, he also said that if the bottom soil moves, there will be damage.

The project director also said the Purbachal Expressway will not be damaged much in the construction of the elevated MRT line.

He said there are rounds on five underpasses on Purbachal Road. Metro Rail will pass through the hole below this round. "There will be some damage to the concrete to do this, but it will not cause much damage," he added.

He said, this design has been done by Rajuk's consultant and the metro rail consultant. He also commented that there was no mismanagement.