The Dhaka metro rail has started picking up passengers from the Pallabi stoppage, which falls between Uttara and Agargaon stations.
A metro train stopped at the Pallabi station for the first time at 8:34am on Wednesday and left for the Agargaon station after 30 seconds.
Earlier, three gates of the station were opened before 8am.
Passengers entered the station at 8am.
At the time, leaders and activists of Pallabi Thana Chhatra League welcomed the passengers with flowers and candies.
Station controller Masud Rana Jewel said: "The train arrived at our station from the Uttara station at 8:34am. After standing for 30 seconds, it started towards the Agargaon station with passengers.”
No crowd was seen at the Pallabi station during a visit there.
A ticket machine was found to be closed among the six ticket machines in the two sections of the station.
Staff on duty at the station said that there were no problems at the station in the morning as there were fewer passengers.
Sumaiya Akhter, a resident of Mirpur DOHS, said that her office is in Karwan Bazar. The opening of the metro rail station is beneficial for her. Now she can go to the office quickly.
She also said that she did not have any trouble buying a ticket.
Apart from the passengers, many visitors also came to the metro station.
When asked about the closure of the ticket machine, Iftekhar Hossain, manager (transportation) of Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Company Limited, the operator of the metro rail, said: "The machines are new. Machines are becoming inoperable due to users giving old money. That will be fixed.”
But it was found that one of the ticket machines was inoperable even before passengers entered in the morning.
The Uttara to Agargaon segment of the nation's first metro rail was made accessible to the general public on December 29.