Agargaon-Motijheel metro rail test run inaugurated

The test run of the metro trains on the Agargaon-Motijheel route was inaugurated on Friday. 

Bangladesh desk: The test run of the metro trains on the Agargaon-Motijheel route was inaugurated by road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader on Friday.

The test run was inaugurated at about 5:00pm from the Agargaon station platform.

From Friday, two more extra trips by metro trains on the Agargaon-Uttara route were added.

The prime minister launched the country’s first-ever electricity-powered elevated and air-conditioned rail system on the 11.73-kilometre-long Uttara–Agargaon route on December 28, 2022.

Currently, the metro rail is running for 12 hours between 8:00am and 8:00pm taking passengers from all the nine stations on the Uttara–Agargaon route every day except Friday.

Sheikh Hasina is also scheduled to inaugurate the service up to Motijheel in October.

The service would be open three months after tests on trains on the Agargaon–Motijheel route while works at exit and entry points at the seven stations in the section vary between 50 to 90 per cent till June.

According to the DMTCL, in the Agargaon–Motijheel section there are seven stations and an eight-kilometre-long viaduct, of which 95 per cent work has been done till June 20.

As part of the preparatory activities, the DMTCL will start performance tests of trains in the Agargaon–Motijheel section from July and after that the system integration test will start in September.

From October, trial runs of trains will start without passengers for a few days before the inauguration, officials said.

Another DMTCL release on Wednesday said that from July 8 metro rail will operate two more trips from Agargaon to Uttara.

From the Agargaon station, one train will start at 8:15pm and another at 8:30pm and then these two trains will drop passengers at the rest of eight stations including the last one – Uttara North station.

The passengers will have to get on trains by rapid passes or single journey tickets purchased earlier as for these two last journeys no tickets will be sold at counters instantly.

The entire 21.26-kilometre-long Uttara-Kamalapur route is scheduled to be inaugurated in December 2025.

The initial cost of the project was Tk 21,985.07 crore, jointly borne by the government and the JICA, with the initial deadline June 2024.

The revised cost now stands at Tk 33,471.99 crore, and a new deadline has been set for December 2025.

Once the service is available up to Motijheel, trains will carry 5.43 lakh passengers daily.