DHAKA, (Metro Rail News): The authorities are ready to conduct a test run of a metro train on the main tracks on 29th August 2021, touching a new milestone in the first-ever metro rail project in Dhaka.
“All necessary tests inside the depot have already been completed. The first metro train’s performance test will begin on the viaduct on Sunday, i.e., 29th August 2021, at 10:00 AM. We have completed almost all necessary preparations for the performance test and will be fully prepared for the test run, which will on the next two days,” said M.A.N Siddique, Managing Director, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd. (DMTCL).
Road Transport and Bridges (RT&B) Minister Obaidul Quader will attend the Ceremonial Demonstration of First-Ever on Sunday at 10:00 AM.
The authorities now want to complete the first stretch Uttara to Agargaon of the 20.10 KM metro rail line operational by December next year.
Mass Rapid Transit Line-6, the country’s first metro rail system, is being built from the capital’s Uttara to Motijheel at the cost of Tk 21,985 crores.
Once complete, the metro rail with 16 stations will carry over 60,000 people in one hour, reduce travel time from Uttara to Motijheel to approximate forty (40) minutes only. The journey now takes more than two hours every day.
The overall work of the fast-track project was 68.49 per cent till July 2021. The Ist phase was done with 88.18 per cent progress, and the second phase from Agargaon to Motijhee with 66.74 per cent. According to the project’s progression report, the installation of tracks and other equipment and procurement of cars saw 60.66 per cent progress.
The first metro trains reached Dhaka on 21st April 2021 and the depot two days later, registering a significant development in the project.
Each train has six (6) cars that can carry a maximum of 2,308 people at a time. Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., a Japan-based manufactured company, said DMTCL officials.
Bangladesh’s first-ever electricity train was rolled out on the tracks on a test run inside the depot in the city’s Diabari on 11th May 2021. The country entered a new transformation of electricity-powered trains because all conventional trains run on diesel.
However, the performance test would involve the first four stations as there is a turnout point at the Pallabi station. The Mirpur-11 station will also be prepared when the train reaches the Pallabi station, where they get power from the power sub-station at Mirpur-11, said MD.
“The train will be operated between the four stations slowly,” said DMTCL officials. The project is being implemented under eight (8) packages.
Package 3 and 4 are used to build viaducts from Uttara to Agargaon, while package 7 is for maintaining electrical and mechanical systems and package 8 for storing rolling stock depot equipment.
According to officials, people involved with these four packages pass busy hours to make the performance test successful. So far, four sets of metro trains out of 24 have reached the country.
Meanwhile, the DMTCL authority, with MD in the chair, held a meeting on 26th August 2021 with the consultants of all eight (8) packages and the team leaders to make Sunday’s programme a success, they added.
