Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today said the country’s first ever metro-rail services will be formally inaugurated in December, 2022.
“Metro-rail is a dream project for the young generation. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the metro-rail operations in December next year,” he told the inaugural ceremony of performance test of first metro-rail on viaduct at Uttara’s Diabari depot.
Quader said the premier will also inaugurate the much-anticipated Padma Bridge Project in June, 2022 while she will also open the Karnaphuli tunnel in Chattogram in the next year.
He said the construction of metro-rail is a milestone for the country and it is no more a dream now rather it is a visible reality.
“Critics can criticize and spread misleading information against us, but we will reply to them with our works. We are giving reply to critics by implementing mega projects like metro-rail, Padma Bridge, Karnaphuli tunnel,” he said.
About the progress of metro-rail project, the minister said construction works of concourses of first nine stations out of total 16 metro-rail stations, platforms of first five stations, steel-roof structures of first four stations and roof sheeting of first three stations have been completed.
Construction works of rest of the stations are also progressing fast, he said.
Quader said works for installation of railway tracks inside the depot have been completed while 17.24 kilometer railway tracks have been installed on mainline viaduct.
Setting up necessary electric connectivity for carrying out train operations in first five stations and its testing have been completed successfully while wiring of 17.44 kilometer overhead catenary system (OCS) on viaduct has been completed, he added.
The minister said four sets of metro-rail having six coaches have already reached Uttara depot and rest of metro-rail sets will be brought to Bangladesh in phases.
On May 11 last, functional test of first metro-rail set began while functional test of first two metro-rail sets has already been completed successfully, he said, adding that performance test of first metro-rail set on viaduct began today.
The minister said it will take around six months to complete the test fully and after the completion of performance test, integrated test will be carried out for around three months.
After the integrated-test, trial runs without passenger will be carried out for around five months before launching the commercial operations of the metro-rail services, he said.
Earlier, the minister formally inaugurated the performance test of metro-rail by waving green flag around 12noon at coach unloading area in Uttara Diabari depot.
Deputy Chief of Japanese Embassy in Dhaka Hiroyuki Yamaya, JICA Bangladesh Chief Representative Yuho Hayakawa and Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) Managing Director M. A. N. Siddique were present on the occasion, among others.
