Metro rail service hours to be extended from Sunday

Metro rail services will operate an extra hour each day from Sunday (19 October), with morning services starting half an hour earlier and evening services ending half an hour later.

Iftikhar Hossain, general manager (operation) of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), confirmed the new schedule to The Business Standard this afternoon (15 October).

Under the revised timetable, the first train will leave Motijheel at 7am instead of 7:30am, while the last train will depart at 10:10pm instead of 9:40pm. The last train from Motijheel will now reach Uttara North station around 10:45pm. On Fridays, operations will also start half an hour earlier at 2:30pm, with services continuing half an hour later into the night.

DMTCL officials said the company is also preparing to increase the number of daily trips by mid‑November. If implemented, the interval between two trains will be reduced by at least two minutes, allowing passengers to board more frequently.

"From Sunday, trains will start half an hour earlier. But to increase the number of trips, some additional technical and trial work is still required. Only after that will we know when the new trips can begin," Iftikhar Hossain told TBS.

Currently, metro rail operates 238 trips a day with 12 train sets in service, each consisting of six coaches. Out of 24 train sets available, 19 will be deployed once the extended hours and additional trips are introduced, DMTCL officials said.

Bangladesh's first metro rail was inaugurated on 28 December 2022, initially running from Uttara to Agargaon. Services were gradually expanded, with all stations up to Motijheel opening to passengers on 31 December 2023. Work is now underway to extend the line to Kamalapur.

The project, approved in 2012 with an initial budget of Tk21,985 crore, has since risen to Tk33,472 crore. Of this, Tk19,718 crore has been financed through loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).