Metro rail increases trips, commuters elated

Daily commuters including service holders and traders have expressed joy as the Metro Rail authorities are operating trains every 8 minutes during peak hours from Saturday.

The number of metro rail trips increased to 26 and as a result a total of 178 trains will run each day instead of 152, said MN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL).

About the new timings, Siddque said, three trains will run from Uttara between 7:10 am to 7:30 am and  trains will run from 7:31am to 11:48 am every 8 minutes during peak hours. After that, the train will run from 11:49am to 3:12pm (off peak hours)  every12 minutes as before and  every 8 minutes from 3:13pm to 8:00 pm (peak hours), he added.

Nazrul Isalm, a regular commuter of the Metro Rail at Mirpur-11 Rail Station, said the pressure of commuters is comparatively less due to the new schedule and it's a relief for people.

Hossain, another commuter at the same station, said "It will be better if the timing can be reduced to 3.5 minutes."

Except Friday, now Metro Rail will run from Uttara-Motijheel from 7:10 am to 8:40 pm while the MRT and Rapid Pass users can travel by metro rail that leaves Motijheel  station at 8 pm.

At present, the trains run every 10 minutes during peak hours and every 12 minutes during off-peak hours. The new timings are applicable for peak hours only, said MN Siddique.

He said that earlier the number of trains' trips were 152 every day, now it has been increased to 178.

Siddique said that currently metro trains carry about 2.70 lakh passengers on an average every day.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the first metro rail in Dhaka on 28 December 2022.

At that time the metro train was running from Uttara to Agargaon. Later the prime minister inaugurated the Agargaon to Motijheel section of the Metro Rail on 4 November last year.

The next day, on 5 November, metro rail service started from Uttara to Motijheel.