Metro trial run likely in July

The authorities might start trial runs of the country's first ever metro rail service in July as the first train is expected to arrive in April, officials said.

Although the overall progress of the project was only 56.94 percent as of January, the metro rail authorities said they were working hard to meet their target of launching the service in December this year.

Officials will be able to tell whether that target can be met after examining the trains, said MAN Siddque, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL).

State-owned DMTCL is implementing the project titled Mass Rapid Transit Line-6. The 20.1km elevated metro lines from Uttara Third Phase to Motijheel are being built at a cost of Tk 22,000 crore.

According to a monthly report, the first phase of the project, from Uttara to Agargaon, witnessed 80.21 percent progress as of January, while the second phase, from Agargaon to Motijheel, saw 51.26 percent, and the third phase, which refers to installation of the tracks and procurement of the carriages and other equipment, witnessed 46.33 percent progress.

A DMTCL team was supposed to visit Japan last month to inspect the five pairs of trains manufactured there, but the plan was postponed because of coronavirus restrictions imposed by Japan.

After Japan extended the restriction to mid-March, the officials hired a firm to inspect the trains in Japan, Siddique told reporters at DMTCL office in capital's Eskaton, adding that officials of the company saw the carriages and locomotives from Bangladesh.

The inspection has been done, the first set might leave the Port of Kobe on February 20 for Bangladesh and could reach a depot in the capital's Diabari on April 23 via the Mongla port, he said.

The authorities will first conduct what Siddque said would be an integrated test of the train and then start a trial run between the first five stations, he added.

The trial run might continue for as long as six months, he added.

The second train is likely to reach the depot on June 16, and the third one on August 13, he said.

The Japan Inspection Company Ltd has carried out the inspection, he added.

Asked whether having a Japanese company do the inspection compromised its integrity, he said the firm, selected through a bidding process participated by five companies, enjoyed international-acclaim.

The original implementation period of the project was 2012-2024.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina later directed that metro services from Uttara to Agargaon be made operational by 2019, and from Agargaon to Motijheel by 2020.

Failing to meet the deadline, the authorities in May 2019 said the project would be launched on December 16, 2021, when the country would be celebrating the golden jubilee of its independence.

Asked whether it was still his belief that the metro rail could be open to the public in December, Siddique said, "We are trying our best to meet the target.

"We will be able to tell for sure... after the [integrated] test," he said.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader last month told reporters that the project was likely to be complete by June next year.

MRT-6 EXTENSION

In 2019, the DMTCL made plans to stretch the MRT-6 to the Kamalapur Railway Station in accordance with the prime minister's directive.

Although the Bangladesh Railway (BR) did not object to the plans, it said the DMTCL design would be an impediment to turning Kamalapur station into a Multimodal Transport Hub (MmTH).

On November 24 last year, the BR and the metro rail authorities agreed on a new plan which required shifting the Kamalapur Station Plaza to a nearby location to make room for the MRT-6 and turning the station into a MmTH.

After that meeting, Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan told reporters that the existing plaza would be demolished and a similar one would be built. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would make the final decision in this regard, he added.

The Prime Minister's Office gave its consent to shifting of the iconic Kamalapur Station Plaza further north the following month.

Abdul Baquee Miah, additional project director (civil) of MRT-6, said an MRT station and a scissor crossing would be built outside the Kamalapur station premises. The MRT structure and the station building would be 30 metres apart.

"It is not true that the station building has to be relocated because of the extension of the MRT-6. It is their [BR] decision," he said.