2 more metro rail stations open Friday, service time to increase to 6 hours

Two more metro rail stations – Uttara South and Shewrapara – under the first phase of MRT-6 are set to open on Friday, officials, in a press conference on Thursday, said and announced that the service time will increase to 6 hours per day from existing 4 hours, from 5 April.

With the opening of two stations, all nine stations on the 21.6km route, from Uttara to Agargaon, will come under operation. Currently, metrorail service is available on the route from 8:30am to 12:30pm. The new schedule will be from 8am to 2pm. 

"Around 92%-95% of work of the Agargaon to Motijheel section has been completed and the rest of the work is expected to be finished by July," Dhaka Mass Transit Company Managing Director MAN Siddique said at the event at his office in the capital. 

"We will conduct performance tests for this section after July and metrorail operation on the Uttara-Motijheel route is set to begin in December," he added.

On 28 December last, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the first-ever elevated metro rail, setting a milestone in the country's communication history. Since then, the authorities have earned approximately Tk6.20 crore carrying some 10.77 lakh passengers.

However, the cost for the service for the period was Tk7.33 crore, according to MAN Siddique.

"The lion's share of expenses went to electricity bills, while the rest went to salary and honorarium of staff," he added.