Metrorail will go to Bankpara, inauguration today

The inauguration of the Agargaon to Motijheel section of the metro rail is on Saturday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will start the official journey of the second phase of the desired metro rail service by reaching Motijheel from Agargaon by boarding the metro rail at 2.30 pm. Metrorail will start running from Uttara to Motijheel from next day Sunday. Earlier, on December 28 last year, the Prime Minister inaugurated the metro rail from Uttara to Agargaon.

The country’s first metro rail is going to be practically complete after the inauguration of the second section. Those concerned say that the passengers will be able to cover the distance of 20 km from Uttara to Motijheel in just 38 minutes through the Metro Rail Chalu. Due to the elevated line, the passengers will not have to get into the usual traffic jams of the capital. The fare for the entire journey from Uttara to Motijheel will be Tk 100. However, initially the metro rail will not stop at all the stations in the Agargaon to Motijheel section. It will last from morning till night.

Metrorail (file photo)

The Metrorail authorities said that it will take some more time to be fully operational as some construction and ancillary works are pending. At present metro rail is running from Agargaon to Uttara. It carries an average of 85,000 passengers every day. 60,000 passengers per hour and 6,77,000 passengers per day will be able to travel on this train if it is fully operational till Motijheel-Kamalapur. If a large number of passengers travel by train, the number of small and large vehicles on the road will decrease, traffic congestion will also decrease. It will save working hours on the one hand. Vehicle fuel and operation and maintenance costs will also come down. According to a study, due to time saving (time cost) about 8 crore 38 lakhs daily and another 1 crore 18 lakhs will be saved in vehicle operation cost; Which will help to increase the growth of GDP.

Metrorail (file photo)

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) Managing Director MAN Siddique said that the Prime Minister will inaugurate the Agargaon-Motijheel section from Agargaon station at 2.30 pm on Saturday. Then he will travel to Motijheel by metro rail for another inauguration ceremony.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said that the Prime Minister will attend the public meeting at Motijheel at 4 pm on the day of the inauguration.

It is known that the MRT Line-6 ​​project is being constructed at a cost of 33 thousand 472 crores. Out of this, JICA is providing loan assistance of Tk 19 thousand 718 crore. The remaining 13 thousand 753 crore 52 lakh taka is borne by the government of Bangladesh. The Metrorail construction project was approved by Ekne on 18 December 2012. The agreement was signed with JICA in February 2013. Initially, the 20 km long MRT line-6 ​​from Uttara to Motijheel was supposed to be constructed. The Prime Minister has ordered to extend it to Kamalapur considering the convenience of passengers. The distance from Motijheel to Kamalapur is 1.6 km. At present, the metro rail extension work is going on for the extended part i.e. from Motijheel to Kamalapur. Although at the beginning of the construction work, the cost of constructing metro rail up to Motijheel was estimated at 21 thousand 985 crores. As of October 31, 98.08 percent of the actual work on the section from Uttara to Motijheel has been completed.

Metro Rail Boarding Rules (File Photo)

It is known that this metro rail is being constructed in three phases. 100% work from Uttara to Agargaon of the first phase has been completed. In the second phase, the construction is from Agargaon to Motijheel. The work progress of this part is 97.31 percent. In the third phase, construction is going on from Motijheel to Kamalapur. This section is scheduled to be completed by June 2025. The progress of infrastructure construction in this part is 17.30 percent.

There are 16 stations from Uttara to Motijheel. As some construction and ancillary works are still pending, the first phase will run for four hours from 7:30 am to 11:30 am from Agargaon to Motijheel. On the Motijheel to Agargaon section, the Metrorail will stop at only three stations – Motijheel, Bangladesh Secretariat (Press Club) and Farmgate. Trains will leave every 10 minutes. The Metrorail will not stop at Vijay Sarani, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh and Dhaka University stations at the moment as the construction work is not completely completed. However, from Agargaon to Uttara it will continue till 8:30 pm as before.

Metrorail ticket counter (file photo)

Metrorail fares

The fare from Uttara to Motijheel is fixed at Tk 100. From Uttara to Pallabi and Mirpur-11, the fare is Tk 30, Mirpur-10 and Kazipara Tk 40, Sheorapara Tk 50 and Agargaon Tk 60. After the metro rail starts up to Motijheel, the fare from Uttara to Agargaon-Bijoy Sarani will be Tk 60, Farmgate Tk 70, Kaowran Bazar-Shahbagh Tk 80, Dhaka University and Press Club (Bangladesh Secretariat) Tk 90 and Tk 100 to Motijheel.

The construction work of MRT Line-5 will be inaugurated

Managing Director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL). MNA Siddique also said that the Prime Minister will also inaugurate the construction of MRT Line-5 (Northern Route). This line will be 20 km from Hemayetpur to Gabtali, Mirpur-10, Gulshan-Natun Bazar Bhatara. The project of Tk 41 thousand 239 crore will be completed in 2028.