The much-anticipated metro rail is finally going to be open to the public from Thursday morning after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated Bangladesh's first-ever elevated train service.
The prime minister opened the 11.73km part of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6 of the metro rail project from Diabari to Agargaon by unveiling its plaque at 11am on Wednesday.
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.