The Agargaon-Motijheel section of the metro rail was inaugurated on Saturday by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
This extends the country's first-ever metro rail service from its starting point at Uttara to Motijheel.
The service will open for general passengers from Sunday.
Here is everything you need to know about the Agargaon-Motijheel section of the milestone project.
Schedules, stations, travel durations
- Metro rail service will start at 7:30am instead of 8:30am.
- The closing time for metro rail services will remain at 8:30pm.
- From 7:30am to 11:30am, the metro rail will only run from Uttara North to Motijheel via Agargaon.
- Three stations will be operated at the beginning. The stations are: Farmgate, Secretariat (Press Club) and Motijheel.
- Four other stations -- Bijoy Sarani, Kawran Bazar, Shahbagh and Dhaka University -- will open within three months.
- Initially, three metro rail stations will be operational, which are Farmgate, Secretariat, and Motijheel.
- Four additional stations, namely Bijoy Sarani, Kawran Bazar, Shahbagh, and Dhaka University, are scheduled to open within the next three months.
- Travelling from Agargaon to Motijheel is likely to take 14 minutes.
Fare list
- From Uttara North and Uttara Center to Motijheel: Tk100.
- From Uttara North and Uttara Center to Secretariat: Tk90.
- From Uttara North and Uttara Center to Farmgate: Tk70.
- From Mirpur 10 to Motijheel: Tk60.
- From Mirpur 10 to Secretariat: Tk50.
- From Mirpur 10 to Farmgate: Tk30.
- From Agargaon to Motijheel: Tk50.
- From Agargaon to Secretariat: Tk40.
- From Agargaon to Farmgate: Tk20.
Metro rail project
The cost of the country’s first-ever metro rail project stands at Tk33,472 crore. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided Tk19,719 crore in the form of a loan to support the project, while the Government of Bangladesh funded the remaining amount.
In the beginning, the estimated cost of this project was about Tk21,000 crore. The cost has increased due to the construction of an additional 1.6 km section from Motijheel to Kamalapur, the acquisition of new land for each station, and the addition of various new facilities.
The main construction work of the project started in 2017.