An electric metro rail train has made a test trip from its depot in Uttara to Agargaon, a stretch of 11.73 km. The journey marks another milestone in translating the dreams of Dhaka residents hoping for a way to avoid the heavy traffic into reality.
The train, brought from Japan, reached Agargaon at 11 am sharp on Sunday, said MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd, or DMTCL, who was present at the station. Project Director AftabuddinTalukder was present as well.
“Trains will begin carrying passengers on the Uttara-Agargaon route from December 2022,” said Siddique, adding that the public metro rail to Motijheel will begin operations in December 2023.
“The second metro train from Japan, which has six coaches, reached Agargaon at 11 am sharp. It travelled at a speed of 100 km per hour from Diabari to Mirpur 10 and then reduced the speed to 15 to 25 km per hour while running from Mirpur 10 to Agargaon,” he told the media.
“The metro rail will run on time and according to schedule. They’ll reach each station at the exact time mentioned in the schedule. We’re conducting performance tests to ensure they run on time.
“We aimed to conduct a test trip from Uttara to Agargaon in December, the month of our victory, marking the golden jubilee of the nation’s independence. And we have succeeded,” said Siddique.
These test trips are taken to ensure proper performance when the metro rail opens to the public on Dec 16, 2022.
He also expressed his hope the construction of viaducts up to DoyelChattar will be completed by December and viaducts up to Motijheel will be finished by January 2022.
As of now, seven sets of metro rail trains have arrived at the depot, and another one is scheduled to arrive on Monday. Two more train sets will join the fleet afterwards.
“In total, we’ll have 10 metro train sets for commercial operations from Uttara to Agargaon from December 2022.”
A train set goes through a functional test after it reaches the depot from Japan, he said.
It is followed by performance tests, integration tests and then trial runs without passengers.
“We hope to complete the trial runs without passengers by September 2022. Then we’ll take three months to prepare for the public opening of metro rail on Dec 16, 2022.”
Construction of at least six of the nine stations from Uttara to Agargaon, including their roof sheets, have been completed, the managing director said, adding the rest will be completed in the next two months.
He was also hopeful that the other work, including electrical wiring and plumbing, will also be finished on time.
