DHAKA, Aug 29, 2021 (BSS) – Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today said the country’s first-ever metro-rail services will be formally inaugurated in December 2022.
“Metro-rail is a dream project for the young generation. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the metro-rail operations in December next year,” he told the inaugural ceremony of the performance test of the first metro-rail on the viaduct at Uttara’s Diabari depot.
Quader said the premier will also inaugurate the much-anticipated Padma Bridge Project in June 2022 while she will also open the Karnaphuli tunnel in Chattogram in the next year.
He said the construction of metro rail is a milestone for the country and it is no more a dream now rather it is a visible reality.
“Critics can criticize and spread misleading information against us, but we will reply to them with our works. We are giving reply to critics by implementing mega projects like metro-rail, Padma Bridge, Karnaphuli tunnel,” he said.
About the progress of the metro-rail project, the minister said construction works of concourses of first nine stations out of a total of 16 metro-rail stations, platforms of first five stations, steel-roof structures of first four stations, and roof sheeting of the first three stations have been completed.
Construction works of the rest of the stations are also progressing fast, he said.
Quader said works for an installation of railway tracks inside the depot have been completed while 17.24-kilometer railway tracks have been installed on the mainline viaduct.
Setting up necessary electric connectivity for carrying out train operations in first five stations and its testing have been completed successfully while wiring of the 17.44-kilometer overhead catenary system (OCS) on viaduct has been completed, he added.
The minister said four sets of metro-rail having six coaches have already reached Uttara depot and the rest of the metro-rail sets will be brought to Bangladesh in phases.
On May 11 last, the functional test of the first metro-rail set began while the functional test of the first two metro-rail sets has already been completed successfully, he said, adding that the performance test of the first metro-rail set on the viaduct began today.
The minister said it will take around six months to complete the test fully and after the completion of the performance test, the integrated test will be carried out for around three months.
After the integrated test, trial runs without passengers will be carried out for around five months before launching the commercial operations of the metro-rail services, he said.
Earlier, the minister formally inaugurated the performance test of metro rail by waving a green flag around 12noon at the coach unloading area in Uttara Diabari depot.
Deputy Chief of Japanese Embassy in Dhaka Hiroyuki Yamaya, JICA Bangladesh Chief Representative Yuho Hayakawa, and Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) Managing Director M. A. N. Siddique were present on the occasion, among others.
