Metro rail to make test run to Agargaon on Dec 12

An electric metro rail train is set to make test trips of the country's first such service from Uttara’s Diabari to Agargaon on Dec 12 after the construction of the route was completed.

All preparations, including the installation of electric lines, have been made for the test runs along the route that was recently extended to Agargaon, according to MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd, or DMTCL.

“We will test the performance of the metro rail to Agargaon on Victory Day. Passenger transportation will begin on the Diabari-Agargaon route from December 2022,” said Siddique, adding that the authorities are working to open public metro rail transit to Motijheel in December 2023, reports bdnews24.com.

Previously on Aug 29, an electric metro rail train made its first official journey atop the viaducts from the Diabari depot to the Mirpur 12 transit service.

Construction is underway on six metro rail lines in Dhaka and its surrounding areas under the supervision of DMTCL.

Bangladesh ordered 24 sets of trains from Japan’s Kawasaki-Mitsubishi consortium for the project. The train sets, which have two engines on either side and four carriages between them, are being built in Japan.

So far, eight sets of trains have arrived in Bangladesh. Seven of them are at the Diabari depot, while one is still in the Port of Mongla, according to the latest information from DMTCL.

Though the project was initially set for completion by 2024, the authorities are now aiming to open the route from Uttara to Agargaon by December 2022.

The government had initially set December 2021 as the target for the Uttara-Agargaon section, but the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly delayed work on the rail line.