Carriages of metro rail being transported by a barge from Mongla port to Diabari depot in Dhaka. The photo shows the barge sailing down the Turag river as it crosses Birulia area on the outskirts of Dhaka on Wednesday — FE photo The first set of coaches of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) train, known as metro rail, reached Dhaka on Wednesday.
The consignment having six coaches, with 40 tonnes of weight each, was brought to the jetty of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) at Diabari in the city's Uttara via the Turag River from the Mongla Port.
The first barge with the two coaches reached the jetty at 4:30 pm. Another barge carried the remaining four coaches afterwards.
While witnessing the berthing of the first barge at the jetty, DMTCL Managing Director MAN Siddique said the revised schedule of the arrival of the first set of coaches had been maintained even in the pandemic.
He said all six coaches would be shifted to the MRT-6 depot by Friday.
The MD, however, could not confirm the date of trial run of the train.
The DMTCL had to revise the schedule of bringing the first set of metro rail coaches several times due to the worldwide coronavirus situation, as shipment activities remained suspended in Japan last year.
However, the company managed to start the shipment on March 4 by inspecting the coaches with the help of a third party inspector in Japan.
The DMTCL's technical team was not allowed to visit the country in question due to travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The first set reached the Mongla port on March 31, two days ahead of the schedule.
All the coaches were put into the barges after completing formalities, including customs clearance, on April 16.
Mr Siddique told the FE that the second set of coaches was already brought to Kobe Port in Japan on Wednesday (yesterday), to be shipped to Bangladesh.
But the shipment will start after getting clearance from the DMTCL, he said, the clearance would be given after inspection of the first consignment of coaches.
The Japanese contractor of the MRT-6 has already kept five sets of coaches ready for shipment.
Mr Siddique said the second consignment of coaches is expected to arrive at the DMTCL depot site by June 16.
The MRT-6 has been being constructed from Uttara 3rd phase to Kamlapur Rail Station,with a targetto transport thousands of passengers in half an hour.
The first phase from Uttara to Agargaon was set to inaugurate on December 16 this year - this is, however, uncertain due to a lack of progress in the construction work caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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