Metro now connects Uttara with Motijheel

Several key areas of the capital are now under the metro rail coverage as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurates its Agargaon-Motijheel section today.

The extended route will be opened to the public at 7:30am tomorrow, around 10 months after the launching of metro service between Uttara and Agargaon.

The inaugural event will be held at Motijheel Station at 2:30pm.

The 8km section of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6 would let people reach Motijheel from Uttara -- a 20.10km route -- in half an hour, a commute that now takes two to three hours due to traffic congestion.

Today, the PM also inaugurates the construction of MRT Line-5 (northern route), which will be a 20km line from Hemayetpur to Bhatara via Gabtoli, Mirpur-10 and Gulshan. The deadline for the Tk 41,239 crore project is 2028.

To facilitate the inauguration programme, regular metro services will remain suspended today, said the authorities.

MRT Line-5 (northern route) is the third of six planned metro lines the government is going to construct to establish a 140km network in Dhaka and its adjacent areas to reduce traffic congestion and pollution.

Physical work of MRT Line-1, the first underground metro rail in the country, started in February this year.

The new section of MRT Line-6 will connect Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Dhaka University, Secretariat, and Motijheel.

However, the metro rail authorities will open three of the seven stations of this section, namely -- Farmgate, Secretariat (Press Club) and Motijheel -- at the beginning. Three more months will be required to open the remaining four stations.

While visiting the Motijheel Station on Wednesday, this correspondent saw people decorating the station and preparing the stage for the inaugural programme.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd, said the prime minister will travel on the metro from Agargaon to Motijheel.

After the inaugural event, Hasina will address a rally organised by the Dhaka city Awami League at Arambagh intersection.

From tomorrow, Siddique said trains will start plying between Agargaon and Motijheel every 10 minutes from 7:30am to 11:30am, while the Uttara-Agargaon route will remain open from 7:30am to 8:30pm.

Currently, trains operate on the Uttara-Agargaon section from 8:00am to 8:30pm.

Siddique said it takes 17 minutes to travel from Uttara to Agargaon on the metro and it will initially require 14 minutes to reach Motijheel from Agargaon, meaning that the travelling from Uttara to Motijheel will take around 31 minutes.

Once all 16 stations between Uttara and Motijheel route become operational, the journey will take around 38 minutes, he added.

Siddique said around 90,000 people use the metro rail daily, adding that, the number of users is expected to reach 5,00,000 when the route from Uttara to Motijheel is fully functional.

The government is implementing the fast-track project to construct the 21.26km elevated metro line from Uttara to Kamalapur at a cost of Tk 33,472 crore. The Motijheel to Kamalapur portion is expected to open by June 2025.