Dhaka Bureau: Metrorail is being launched for the first time in the country. This electric train will run automatically. Its ticketing system is fully computerized. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will officially inaugurate this new technology train on December 28. Passengers will be able to travel in it from Thursday, the day after the inauguration. Security is being strengthened on this occasion. For now the train will run from Uttara to Agargaon. Later, Agargaon to Motijheel is planned to run by the end of 2023. And the extension from Motijheel to Kamalapur railway station may be commissioned in 2025. All in all, a festive atmosphere prevails in Diabari, Mirpur and Agargaon areas.
Officials of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), the project implementing agency, said that the last minute preparations are now underway. Ticketing, station entry and exit, boarding, MRT card recharge etc. are being practiced. They say that the common people of the country are not used to traveling in this type of transport. Various measures including video tutorial, miking have been taken to facilitate their movement.
Security: On the inauguration day, the Prime Minister will travel from Uttara to Agargaon by metro rail. As a result, flawless security measures are being taken in those areas. On this day, strictures have been imposed on the roads and infrastructure on both sides of the metro rail from Uttara to Agargaon. According to the police and local sources, seven instructions have been given to the house owners in the area adjacent to the metro rail for safety. This includes that no new tenant can move into any building or flat in the metro rail area before December 29. No new office, shop, restaurant can be opened in any commercial building. Clothes shall not be allowed to dry on balconies and roofs of any building and no one shall stand there. Besides, anyone in the area adjacent to the metro rail has been asked to submit it to the police station. All banks or ATM booths there should be closed from that morning till the opening ceremony.
In this regard, Uttara Zone Additional Deputy Police Commissioner (ADC) Badrul Hasan said that some instructions have been received from the SSF regarding the security of the inauguration ceremony of the Metrorail. Security arrangements are being made accordingly. Meanwhile, on December 8, the police issued seven instructions to the residents of the buildings in the metro rail area from Agargaon to Diabari for the safety of the Prime Minister. Assistant Commissioner of Pallabi Zone of Mirpur Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Abdul Halim confirmed this information. He said that leaflets containing instructions are already being distributed in the areas adjacent to the metro rail. Pallavi and Turag police stations have been given the responsibility to implement the instructions.
Monument: A heartbreaking and bloody incident like the infernal terrorist attack on Gulshan’s Holy Artisan on the night of July 1, 2016 is involved in the implementation of this new project. 20 citizens were brutally killed by militants in that attack. Among them, the seven Japanese nationals who were killed were working as consultants for the metro rail project. So a monument has been built in their memory. Moushumi Habib, Sub-Project Director (Administration) of Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project said that this memorial moment or monument has been constructed at Diabari Metrorail Station in Uttara. Which will be exposed after the inauguration. Besides, anyone can visit the Metrorail exhibition and information center from Monday to Saturday by buying a ticket at Diabari station without taking the train.
Metrorail will run for four hours, two stations will be operational
Officials of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) said that the metro rail will run four hours a day for a few days after the inauguration. For this there will be five trains. But in the meantime 12 trains have been tested and kept ready. Initially no more than five trains will be required. After three months maybe all the trains will start running.
Officials also said that only two stations will be opened on the first day. One is Uttara North and the other is Agargaon station. The concept of Metrorail, is completely new to us, so there is also the matter of training the passengers in the beginning. Later, other stations will be opened one by one according to passenger demand.
