Two women to drive metro rail

Moriyom Afiza and Asma Akhter are getting ready to sit on the driver's seat of the metro rail.Collected

Within about five months metro rail will start operating in the country for the first time. If everything goes well, Dhaka dwellers will ride metro rail on 16 December 2022.

Meanwhile, if a woman is seen driving the first train, that moment will become even more special. There are two women also among the people appointed for operating country’s first metro rail. At present, they are receiving training in full swing.

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) is in charge of constructing and operating metro rail in Dhaka. DMTCL is moving ahead with the plan of launching metro rail from Uttara to Agargaon in December. The train has already begun running on trial.

The post of the metro rail driver is titled ‘train operator’. Moryom Afiza has been appointed in this post, along with 25 other people. Meanwhile, station controllers will be coordinating with the people involved in operating the train from the station.

Asma Akhter has been appointed in this post along with 34 other people. Sometimes, train operators will be working as station controllers. And whenever needed, station controllers will be operating trains.

Moryom and Asma both have already taken training of two months at Bangladesh Railway Training Academy in Chattogram’s Halishahar. After returning to Dhaka they went through another four months' training. Now they are taking technical and practical trainings at the metro rail depot in Uttara’s Diabari.

Experts from metro rail construction company Mitsubishi-Kawasaki of Japan are giving different trainings on technical and practical issues of train operation, there. Later, they will receive training at Delhi Metro Rail Academy. Authorities even have plans to train up people involved in operating trains in Japan, if it is necessary.

Moryom Afiza is receiving training to become metro rail operator. JICA president Akihiko Tanaka congratulated her while visiting Dhaka Metro Rail (Line 6) recently.
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Moriyom Afiza has completed her post graduate study from Noakhali Science and Technology University on Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Lakshmipur’s Moriyom got appointed on 2 November 2021.

She told Prothom Alo that the metro rail is quite new in Bangladesh. She had applied for the job out of sheer enthusiasm.

She further said, “Like many others, metro rail is a dream to me as well. I am pretty delighted already to think that I’ll operate the train myself. Now my main objective is to receive all the trainings properly and acquire necessary skills.”

Asma Akter graduated in physics from capital’s Titumir College. She was appointed at the post of station controller on 21 August of 2019.

She said to Prothom Alo, “I didn’t come here thinking of doing just a job after seeing the advertisement on the paper. A sense of passion towards the metro rail system was there as well. That’s why I tried to learn all the details of the metro rail during the training.”

She added, “Though the post I hold is of a station controller, I might have to operate the train as well. This is truly exciting.”

JICA, the development agency working for Japanese government financed the metro rail project. Main work of the project started in August 2017. According to the report on the progress of the project, till June the overall progress of the project is 81.19 per cent.

The length of metro rail from Uttara to Motijheel is 20.10 kilometers. The Uttara-Agargaon portion of that is scheduled to open on 16 December. There are nine stations on this route.

Trains might start operating on the Agargaon-Motijheel from December next year. This route contains seven stations.

All the works including the construction of station up to Agargaon have been completed. Already, 14 sets (6 coaches in a set) of metro rail are there in Dhaka. These are running on trial basis now.

Asma Akhter receiving training to become a station controller. She too can drive a train.
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Saiful Islam, (deputy secretary) in-charge of supervising recruitment and training, said to Prothom Alo, manpower that is required right now, is being recruited. No one is left idle and there is enough time to train them after recruitment, these two things have been taken into consideration.

He said that till last Sunday 218 people involved with operating trains, have been recruited. There are new recruitments going on every day and every week.

Soon, 400 more people will be recruited in the posts of frontline customer relation officer and ticket machine operator. There are plans of recruiting more women.

MAN Siddique, managing director of DMTCL said to Prothom Alo, work is going on in full swing aiming at launching the metro rail in December this.

He also said, qualified and skilled manpower is being recruited for operating metro rail. It is being focused that women are also recruited in large numbers.