Metro rail to be open for public a day after inauguration

Bangladesh is going to enter the electricity-powered metro rail service on 28 December. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will officially inaugurate this new horizon in the public transport in the capital on that day.

However, the people will have to wait another day to board the metro rail. According to the plan so far, tickets for metro rail will be available the next day after the inauguration of the service. The officials of the company held meetings regarding the planning and preparation of the inaugural ceremony even on the holiday on 16 December.

According to the sources, Japanese development partner JICA, the contracting firm in charge of the construction of metro rail and consultants of the project will hold the final meeting in this regard on Sunday. The date for starting the sale of metro-rail tickets will be announced on that very day following the meeting.

Sources at the DMTCL said that the inauguration ceremony would be held at the Bangabandhu International Convention Centre in the capital’s Agargaon. The entire complex of the convention centre has been hired for the inauguration ceremony. The programme will be attended by some 2,000 guests, including cabinet members, politicians, diplomats, government officials and top officials of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

As per the preliminary planning, after finishing the formalities at the ceremony, including the inaugural speech, prime minister Sheikh Hasina will move to the Agargaon station and will board on the train as the first passenger of metro rail after buying tickets through the permanent card.

After that prime minister Hasina will travel to Uttara north station, the last station on this route, on metro rail. She will unveil the inaugural plaque there. After finishing other formalities there, the prime minister will return to Agargaon again on the metro rail. The prime minister will talk to the people concerned and will take pictures with them while on-board.

There is no such planning as of now to celebrate the inauguration of metro rail service across the country contrary to the countrywide celebration during the inauguration of the Padma Bridge.

The officials say almost all countries celebrate the inauguration of their first ever metro rail service with massive arrangements. However, the government has taken several initiatives to cut the costs due to the economic crisis. Therefore, the celebrations on the occasion of the inauguration of the first ever metro rail service might not be like the massive celebrations during the inauguration of the Padma Bridge. Besides, the authorities are also thinking about keeping the celebrations limited within Dhaka and adjacent areas only as it is a Dhaka-based service.

Speaking regarding the inaugural ceremony, DMTCL managing director MNA Siddique told Prothom Alo, “We are taking all the preparation for the moment of inauguration. Although the arrangements are not that colourful this time, we will try our best to make the ceremony a success.”

“Due to several safety concerns and other formalities, people won’t be able to ride the trains under the metro rail service on the day of the inauguration. The service will be open to all from the next day."

The project for the construction of the 21km-metro rail line (MRT Line- 6) from Uttara to the Kamalapur railway station in the city, was taken up back in 2012. On 28 December, services on a portion of this route from Uttara to Agargaon will be inaugurated. The authorities have a plan to finish the remaining work (Agargaon-Motijheel) by the end of next year.

The metro rail services on the Motijheel-Kamalapur is likely to be launched by 2025. The estimated cost of this project is Tk 33.4 billion. Of this, JICA is providing some Tk 197.1 billion and the government is bearing some Tk 137.5 billion.

The launch of metro rail will help commuters travel from Uttra to Motijheel back and forth in a specific time and in comfort. When work on metro rail began in 2017, work on a portion of Begum Rokeya Avenue stopped, causing miseries to people for five years. This correspondent visited Begum Rokeya Avenue for the last two days and found road repairing is on at various plac. Workers were seen beautifying the road dividers; work on metro rail stations nearly ends, the entire road was dark at night as there are no street lights.

Rafiqul Islam, who is an employee of a furniture retail company, told Prothom Alo, “Construction of metro rail has caused sufferings to people and huge loss to business for five years. Customers were reluctant to come to Mirpur, but we accepted it because of a project like metro rail.”

People will now commute easily and that is a big relief, he added.

The government has fixed the lower fare at Tk 20 and fare will differ based on distance. Fare will be Tk 100 for a trip from Uttra to Motijheel. Tickets can be bought by permanent card requiring recharge in addition to availing ticket at station instantly.

According to DMTC, a trip from Uttara north station to Agagaon will take 20 minutes at the beginning and the journey will be cut to 16-17 minutes gradually. Metro rail will move with less passengers for two-three months since its launch. For now, five trains will be operated in morning and afternoon, yet trains are supposed to run after every four minutes.

The government has taken a plan to build a communications system with six metro rails by 2030 in a bid to ease traffic congestion in Dhaka and neighboring areas. Metro rail will be launched on a portion of one of these six lines on Uttara-Motijheel-Kamlapur route.

According to DMTC, once metro rail will operate in full capacity, 483,000 passengers will commute on metro rail line-6 daily and 5 million passengers on six metro rail lines daily. On top of that, the operation of metro rail line-6 will reduce carbon emission by 200,000 tonnes.

Work on line-6 will start after line-1, which will have two routes; one route will be a subway stretching from Kamlapur railway station to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, and another route will be flyover stretching from Natun Bazar to Purbachal. The line-1 project will be constructed at a budget of Tk 525.61 billon with a deadline for 2026.

Eight consultancy agencies from Japan, France, India and Bangladesh were appointed in October last to construct the line-1 project, with main work likely to start in next June.

The north route of metro rail line-5 will consist of Hemayetpur-Vatara route via Mirpur 10 and Gulshan while south route of line-5 will consist Gabtoli-Dasherkandi route via Panthapath, Hatijheel, Rampura and Aftabnagar.

The line-2 will start from Gabtoli and will end at Chatttogram Road via Basila, Mohammadpur, Jigatala, New Market, Dhaka Medical College, Gulistan, Arambag, Kamalarapur and Mugda. The MRT line-4 will consist of Kamalapur-Naeayanganj route.

Since work has not progressed as per the plan to complete construction of six metro rail lines by 2030, uncertainty looms large over undertaking projects, construction and the launch of metro rails.