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The metro rail authorities have successfully run the first set of trains almost at its optimum speed of 100-kilometre per hour, gradually approaching its commercial operation by the end of next year.
Before then, the city commuters would only be able to see the train running on its track more frequently from Uttara to Agargaon in the city as the authorities will carry out more intensive trials for the next one year period.
The first test run of the train of mass rapid transit line 6 (MRT 6) started on the viaduct from the Uttara depot in the city on August 29 last at only 20-25km speed.
"The MRT symbolises the changing face of Dhaka city and symbolises the friendship between Japan and Bangladesh," Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka Ito Naoki told a group of journalists at the Metro Exhibition and Information Centre at Uttara Depot in the city on Tuesday.
He said the MRT is steadily approaching its operation through overcoming challenges from terror attack to pandemic crisis with joint efforts by Japan and Bangladesh.
The Japanese Embassy in Dhaka organised the event to get hands-on experience for the journalists on running the train at 100km speed at Uttara central station.
Managing Director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited MAN Siddique and Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Hayakawa Yuho also spoke on the occasion.
Bangladesh Cricket Board selectors Habibul Bashar and Abdur Razzak, and national cricket team player Mehidy Hasan Miraz also witnessed the trail run and boarded on the train to attract commuters' interest in the country's new passenger service.
Representatives from Kawasaki Railcard Manufacturing, Marubeni Corporation, Toshiba Infrastructure Systems and Solution Corporation and Nippon Signal also shared various features of the MRT 6 trains and lines that used state-of-the-art technology for ensuring 'reliability, safety and functionality'.
DMTCL started construction of the MRT 6 project in 2013 from Uttara 3rd phase to Motijheel as part of the government's plan to develop six MRT lines in the city by 2030.
Of these, the JICA is financing the MRT 6, MRT 1 and MRT 5 North. The 20.1km line was later expanded to Kamalapur Railway Station.
The first 11.7km of the MRT 6 is planned to run with passengers in December 2022.
While sharing the progress of the ongoing projects, the DMTCL MD said that all kinds of tests including functional, integrity and commercial trial run of MRT 6 will be completed by September 2022.
He also informed the journalists that seven sets of trains have already reached the depot site and test runs of two sets were going on.
While answering a question by the FE, he said that the first phase from Uttara to Agargaon can be operated by 10 sets of trains.
The JICA Country Representative said the MRT is going to give the city a new taste in transportation and a new culture of metro rails.
As part of the project, the DMTCL has set up an exhibition and information centre for witnessing dummy entrance and exit gates of MRTs and experiencing the use of rapid passes and getting inside a replica MRT train, which will open for common people from January next.