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Commuters and members of the public are suffering as a glitch has suspended metro rail service from Agargaon to Motijheel. Thousands of passengers were stuck waiting for public transport on the road in front of the station in the uncomfortable heat to reach their destination.
As a result of the large crowd, there was heavy traffic congestion in the area.
After the service outage began at 9am, Fazle Rabbi had to wait for an hour in the heat. The gridlock on the road meant that none of the vehicles were moving. He kept waiting in the same place on the road, but no new buses came.
He was already late to the office. Rabbi said: “I am headed to Motijheel, but I have not been able to catch a bus, autorickshaw or motorcycle. I tried to board a bus but, after shoving and pushing a crowd of 10 people, I still couldn’t get on."
Saira Akhtar, a middle aged woman, was stuck in the same situation as Rabbi. After waiting for transport for an hour and a half, she began to feel sick from the heat and sat down on the pavement. She asked a CNG driver: "Son, please take me to Shahabagh."
Saira said she was headed from Mirpur to Shahbagh to get medical treatment when the metro rail was shut down and she had to get off. Due to an intense pain in her leg, she is unable to walk. She was struggling with the relentless heat too.
“I can’t find a CNG due to the heavy traffic. The one or two who offered rides want fares of over Tk 400.”
Three-year-old Fabiha is crying in her father's arms. Her father, Salim Khan, is lovingly wiping her tears and sweat again and again.
The two are headed to Farmgate and are waiting for a bus in the area below the Agargaon Metro Station. Salim said:
"As I’m travelling with my child, this heat is troublesome. There is nothing to sit on around here. I have been standing in this same place for an hour. I don't know how long I will have to wait. I can't find a vehicle and my child is crying."
The Agargaon to Motijheel section of the metro rail halted service around 9am due to the displacement of a spring in the middle lane of three that runs along the viaduct under the trains at Farmgate station.
The technical issue has halted train service at the station and no trains are running directly from Uttara to Motijheel.
The metro rail authority says it is working to fix the issue and restore service.