'Metro Rail'

The country's first metro rail -- Mass Rapid Transit Line-6 or MRT-6 -- is being built from the capital's Uttara to Motijheel at a cost of Tk 22,000 crore. Once complete, a train will be able to carry 60,000 people every hour, hugely reducing travel time. 

The government is moving ahead with a long-term ambitious project to reduce traffic congestion in Dhaka metropolis and its surrounding areas. 

The completion of the elevated metro rail project is expected to expedite the mobility and advancement of the city - in effect that of the whole country. In the present age, nations and cities cannot expect to join the global march of development without unhindered speed. In spite of the dislocations created by the frequent changes in infrastructural setups along the metro route, the project didn't fail to gain the required speed. It was fast approaching its completion deadline of December 2021. Had not the Covid-19 pandemic debilitated the nation, the Dhaka residents would have been watching the concluding works of the metro route and preparing to board the trains at this year-end. As part of the latest developments, the metro authorities look forward to completing the grand project ahead of the 2024 reset deadline. 

In the meantime, several operation-related installations and tests need to be completed. Since the arrival of the first batch of rail coaches, various performance tests have been carried out. Those include 'receiving' inspections, functional tests of the train at the depot location. The performance test of the trains on the viaduct (the elevated and pillar-based railway track) has been learnt to be carried out by next August. According to DMTCL (Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited) sources, the metro depot has now 16-km rail track on which the first set of a finished train will trial-run. The critical trial runs and tests point to the authorities' eagerness to launch a foolproof metro network in Dhaka. A little delayed start is better than one which is filled with glitches.