The Dhaka Metro Rail is going to operation from dawn to dusk on the Uttara-Motijheel route from today morning.
As per the announcement, the first train will leave Uttra at 7:10 am for Motijheel and the last train from Motijheel will leave for Uttara at 8:40 pm.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) Managing Director (MD) MAN Siddique earlier confirmed this information on Thursday.
The managing director of DMTCL said, “We promised to adjust the time from Uttara to Motijheel by March. But, we decided to operate Metro rail from morning to night for our commuters convenience.”
At present, 1.30 lakh to 1.56 lakh passengers travel in metro rail trains every day. Earlier, Dhaka University and Bijoy Sharani stations were opened on December 13, later Karwan Bazar and Shahbag stations were opened on the last day of the same month. With this, from December 31, metro rail started operation with all 16 stations.
Metrorail stations are Uttara-Uttar, Uttara Center, Uttara South, Pallabi, Mirpur-11, Mirpur-10, Kazipara, Shewrapara, Agargaon, Bijoy Sharani, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh, Dhaka University, Secretariat, Motijheel and Kamalapur.
However, construction work on the Kamalapur section is now underway. The authorities have said that this part will be launched by the end of this year.
Mohammad Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, secretary general of the Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association told Bangladesh Post, “Extending metro rail operating time is undoubtedly a good decision, especially for the people travelling on the Uttara to Motijheel route.”
However, terming metro rail as the transport of rich people he demanded to reduce its fare and make it a mass people transport for real.
It is to be noted, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Uttara to Agargaon section of Metrorail on 28 December 2022. The next day, the Metrorail was opened to the public from 29 December.
The Agargaon to Motijheel section was inaugurated on November 4 last year. Then step by step all the stations from Uttara to Motijheel were opened.