Ignoring the biting cold and foggy winter morning, hundreds of Dhaka residents gathered in front of metro rail stations on Thursday to ride for the first time as Bangladesh's first elevated rail service opens its door public.
The latest addition to Dhaka's public transport started its first journey with passengers at 8am in the morning.
At Agargaon station, passengers stood in a long line since early morning to buy tickets and board the metro rail.
While there were some office-goers seen in the long queues of people waiting to board the metro service, most of the people came with their families just to get a new and unique experience.
Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka TribuneBasila resident Sabbir Ahmed was one of them. He said: “I have come here to experience riding the metro rail for the first time. I left early in the morning. I see many people coming and waiting in line.”
Riding the metro rail will be a unique experience, Sabbir added.
Mohammad Habib, a corporate employee, came from Gulshan with his family to fulfil the requirement of his 7-year-old son to travel in the metro rail.
He said: “Undoubtedly, it is a matter of great joy for us that we are also now becoming a modern state. My son was interested in riding the metro after seeing the commercials on TV for a week. I have been waiting since 7am to fulfil his wishes.”
Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka TribuneAnother metro rail passenger Solaiman claimed that he had travelled to different places to see all the development activities of the government.
A hotel employee by profession, he moved from Gulistan to Kawran Bazar in the capital at night. After spending the night there, he came to Agargaon in the morning to ride the metro rail.
Solaiman said: “I was sleeping on the road after spreading newspapers the night before to climb the Padma Bridge. Could not drive through the Karnaphuli tunnel but I walked around the area. Now I came here last night to ride the metro rail.”
Asked if he knew how to ride the metro rail, he said: “I will ride the way everyone else does.”
Not only Solaiman, but also most of the incoming passengers are not well aware of the metro rail riding rules.
But they hoped to board the metro rail without any hassle.
Initially, the metro trains will run from 8 am to 12 noon every day from Uttara to Agargaon stations without any stoppage.
It will take 20 minutes to travel the 11.73km distance from Uttara to Agargaon, but soon it will come down to 16-17 minutes.
In the beginning, the trains will not stop at all stations. They will leave the Uttara station and stop at Pallabi, and then they will go to Agargaon without stopping. The stopping of trains at intermediate stations will start later.
Initially, the trains will carry 200 to 250 passengers and later 700 to 800 passengers.
Of the 12 trains ready for operating from Uttara to Agargaon, 10 will run regularly and two will be on standby for any problems.
The metro rail project was taken up in 2012, and a loan agreement in this regard was signed with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a Japanese development cooperation agency, the following year.