Sabina's daughter no longer needs to stay at the hostel

Jannat Avnaat, a resident of Shewrapara, studies at a college in Uttara.

Her mother Sabina Alo would initially take her to college. It was expensive and difficult for Sabina and so her daughter started staying in a hostel in Uttara. That was a little scary for Sabina.

Now much to Sabina's relief, the much-awaited metro rail operation was launched partially on Uttara-Agargaon route in Dhaka on Wednesday. Two trains carrying passengers left Agargaon and Uttara rail stations separately at 8:00am on Thursday.  

Jannat has now returned home, leaving the hostel. The mother and the daughter appeared in Agargaon station at 7:00am, collected their tickets and boarded the Uttara-bound train.

They were both thrilled to board the coach. Sabina told Prothom Alo that "My daughter will continue her studies staying at the hostel. But I took her home on the day when metro rail was launched."

She said, "There will be no more difficulties to and from home. I am accompanying my daughter for the first day. From the next day, she will be able to move alone."

Claiming the metro rail has reduced her cost, Sabina recounted she had to spend a large amount of money per month for the daughter's accommodation, food and pocket money.      

Shamimul Islam, a resident of Agargaon area, is very happy as the Diabari station of metro rail lies nearby his office.    

He told Prothom Alo that "It will help me a lot. Now, it will take 20 minutes to get to my office from Agargaon."

Earlier, he had to spend almost one hour on the road in reaching his destination. "I don’t need to face the hassle on the road. It is a matter of relief for me," Shamimul elated.     

Many passengers were seen going back and forth the stations as they came to board the train out of excitement, to be a part of history. This correspondent talked to some of them today.

Md Shahabuddin, along with his wife and children, appeared in the station to enjoy the train ride.

He, a businessman of Mirpur, took a photograph with his family after reaching Agargaon station from Uttara. "We just wanted the experience to take a ride and see how it feels to on the metro rail," Shahabuddin laughed.  

*This report appeared in the online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by NH Sajjad.