The Dhaka Metro Rail authorities have set up an Operation Control Centre (OCC) in Uttara depot to mitigate any kind of disasters or emergency situations like fire, arson attack or natural calamities.
Coordinating with Fire Service and Civil Defense (FSCD), Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and Disaster Management Team (DMT), the OCC will tackle all kinds of disaster or various emergency situations aiming to ensure passengers’ safety and security while operating the metro rail.
“The OCC at Uttara metro rail depot will tackle the various disasters or emergency situations during operation MRT line-6 between Uttara and Motijheel,” said Engr Abdul Matin Chowdhury, additional project director, Dhaka Mass Transit Development Project.
“A manual has already been developed to manage the disasters or various offences,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
“The OCC and DMT will work in coordination with the train operators and station controllers to monitor all kinds of disasters. DMT is being set up at the headquarters of the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) in Dhaka,” said Maushumi Habib, deputy project director, Dhaka Mass Transit Development Project.
The original implementation period of the MRT line 6 project was scheduled to finish by 2024. However, after receiving directives from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to start operations from Uttara to Agargaon by 2019 and Agargaon to Motijheel by 2020, the project work gained a further boost. After failing to meet the deadline, the authorities had decided to open the service by December 2022.
Right now, the metro rail authority is significantly emphasizing safety and security.
A drill on safety management was held yesterday at the metro rail exhibition and information centre under the project on technical assistance for the MRT Safety Management System on Line 6.
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How to tackle an emergency
The authorities concerned have developed a manual guideline to mitigate any disaster, be it man-made or natural disasters.
For example, if an arson attack takes place, passengers can press an emergency call and report to the train operator. The train operator will report to the OCC, who will command operators to stop the train at the next station. At the same time, the OCC will inform the DMP and FSCD to rush to the site and begin evacuating passengers.
“If anyone wants to commit any crime, MRT and DMP police will arrest the criminal in coordination with OCC,” said Maushumi Habib.
“All the coaches have an emergency call button and a speaker for passengers to inform them of the emergency situation to the train operators. Then train operators can inform the OCC to tackle the situation,’ she added.
According to the officials, each train has six cars or coaches that can carry a maximum of 2,308 people at a time. They were manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd in Japan.
Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6, the country’s first metro rail system, is being built at a cost of Tk 21,985 crore.
Once complete, the metro rail — with 16 stations — will be able to carry 60,000 people an hour, reducing travel time from Uttara to Motijheel to around 40 minutes, from about two hours by common transports on regular days.
According to the DMTCL, the overall progress of the project was reported to be 77.82 in March this year. Progress on the first phase between Uttara and Agargaon stands at 91.41% and the second phase — from Agargaon to Motijheel — 77%.