Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina flags off a metro train at Agargaon station as she inaugurated the second phase of the metro rail service from Agargaon to Motijheel in the capital on Saturday. — Focus Bangla People are all agog to ride past Dhaka's nagging traffic impasse by overhead train as commercial operation of the city's maiden metro rail through its 20-kilometre corridor from Uttara to Motijheel starts today, after Saturday's ceremonial inauguration.
At 7:30am, two trains from both ends will roll on the double-track elevated metro rail across the capital city, where all roads below are jammed with variegated slow-and fast-moving vehicles that kill long man hours.
Officials said the operation, which will partially be conducted for a couple of months, will initially benefit the morning users as trains on the entire built corridor will be operated till 11.30 am.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took the first trip after formal inauguration Saturday of the Agargaon-Motijheel part of the metro rail under mass rapid transit (MRT)-6 package.
She also later inaugurated physical works on the MRT-6 metro- rail line being built as subway crossing the city in east-west direction under the ground.
To begin with, two trains from Uttara North and Motijheel ends will run touching 12 stations, including two in-between Agargaon and Motijheel.
After 11:30 am, train operation from Uttara North to Agargaon will, however, be carried on till 8pm everyday, allowing some commuters who have MRT or Rapid Pass with adequate balance to use two return trains to depot location from Agargaon.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL) has calculated the timing of the operation of entire route with total 12 stations as 31 minutes with 10-minute gap between the two trains, which is called headway.
DMTCL secretary Muhammad Abdur Rauf told the FE that the remaining four stations will be opened by December.
"The time extension of the Agargaon-Motijheel part will take few more months for integrating with various systems of Uttara North- Agargaon part by ensuring safety and security," he says.
Since the launch of the commercial operation on 11.73-km stretch of MRT 6 from Uttara North to Agargaon on December 29, the DMTCL has got on average 90,000 passengers against its capacity of 60,000 passengers to cross entire 20- km corridor per hour from one side at 100km speed.
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