Dhaka metro rail formal test run started

Bangladesh’s first ever metro train service has started its test run on the viaduct in the capital.
The formal test run started from Uttara at 11:54am. on sunday after Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader inaugurated the event by waving a green flag at the depot in Dhaka’s Diabari..
The minister told reporters that after a total of 14 months of performance test – which includes five months of trial run – the commercial operation of metro rail in Dhaka will begin by the end of 2022.
“We will inaugurate three mega projects in the next year, InshaAllah,” Obaidul Quader said.
Padma Bridge will open to traffic in June 2022 while Bangabandhu tunnel in the Karnaphuli river and MRT Line-6 later in the next year, he said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the projects, the minister said.
On Friday, as part of the preparation, the authorities operated the train between four stations at a very slow speed to check safety issues and take different technical measurements ahead of today’s programme, said ABM Arifur Rahman, project manager (CP-8) of Mass Rapid Transit Line-1 project.
The set of the metro train, comprising six coaches, left Diabari depot at Uttara for Pallabi station. The electric train is to cross three stations on its way – Uttara North, Uttara Central, and Uttara South.
As it is a mainline performance test, the train is being operated at a slow pace and without any passengers.
Once complete, the metro rail — with 16 stations — will be able to carry 60,000 people an hour, bringing down the travel time from Uttara to Motijheel to around 40 minutes. The journey now takes about two hours on a regular day.
The first set of metro trains reached Dhaka on April 21 and the depot two days later, marking a major development in the project.
Bangladesh’s first ever electric train was rolled out on the tracks on a test run inside the depot in the city’s Diabari on May 11. Since then, the authorities have been conducting performance tests inside the depot.
Dhaka city dwellers, however, may have to wait more than a year to ride the metro train because of the host of testing required to be eligible for commercial operation.