Dhaka Metro Rail
The Dhaka Metro Rail is a mass rapid transit system serving Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is operated by the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited. Together with the under construction Dhaka BRT, proposed Dhaka Subway and Dhaka Circular Railway, it is expected to reduce traffic congestion in the city. The metro rail network's only operational line is the MRT Line 6; additionally, MRT Line 1 and MRT Line 5 are under construction, and MRT Line 2 and MRT Line 4 are in the planning stages. It is part of the Strategic Transport Plan outlined by the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority. It has been later reported however that the government may cancel the southern part of MRT Line 5 and most metro rail projects are likely to miss the 2030 deadline.
The first section of MRT Line 6 commenced commercial operations on 29 December 2022 and the second section on 5 November 2023. The other lines are either in planning or under construction. The third phase, which will have an interchange with Line 1, Line 2 and Line 4, is set to be completed by 2026. Further expansion of MRT Line 6 is expected towards Savar Upazila and Tongi. Passengers will get a 10% discount on the fare for using the MRT Pass or Rapid Pass. MRT line 6 currently operates daily from 7:30 am to 9:00 pm and on Fridays from 3:30 pm to 9:00 pm. MRT Police provides security for the Dhaka Metro Rail.
History
To implement Dhaka's 20-year-long Strategic Transport Plan, the government of Bangladesh invited the Japan International Cooperation Agency to conduct a primary survey and feasibility study on the transport system of Dhaka in 2009–2010. In 2012, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the project. A loan agreement between the Bangladeshi government and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency was signed in January 2013.Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, the agency responsible for the implementation of the first metro line, was formed in January 2013. The General Consultant, namely the NKDM Association, commenced work beginning in February 2014. In June 2013, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited was established by the government to implement the Metro Rail Lines across the city. Dhaka metro rail was opened by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 29 December 2022.
History of MRT Line-6
Construction
The deal for the construction of the MRT Line-6, costing US$2.8 billion, was signed by the government of Bangladesh with the Japan International Cooperation Agency on 20 February 2013. Construction began on 26 June 2016 with an inauguration ceremony presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Civil engineering work was done by the Italian-Thai Development Public Company Ltd. and China's Sinohydro Corporation Ltd. JV, and a Tokyo-based construction company developed the depot's land.Construction work was divided into eight packages, covering aspects like depots, stations and rolling stock.
Planning
When construction commenced in 2016, the Metro Rail was expected to open by the end of 2019. By 2018, this expectation was still held to, but by 2019, completion of phase one was delayed to December 2021. In 2018, the second phase was expected to be complete by December 2020. Eventually, these dates were pushed back, with phase one opening in 2022 and phase two expected in 2023. The main reason for the delays from 2020 to 2022 was the COVID-19 pandemic.Cost and length changes
Originally, the project cost was Tk 219,850 million but it was later increased by Tk 114,870 million to Tk 334,720 million, although the full Project is not yet completed. The first route, originally projected to start from Uttara, a northern area of Dhaka, to Sayedabad, in the south of the capital, was eventually extended north to Uttara and truncated south to Motijheel. The original length which was has been increased by to. It was planned to have 16 stations originally but it has been increased to 17 stations.Misconceptions
The project was originally reported to be a underground metro rail line. It was later confirmed to be an elevated and underground metro rail project. In 2014, it was reported that 56 trains would run on the metro system. It was confirmed that 24 vehicles would run on the MRT Line 6. It was planned to have six lines.Trial runs
MRT Line-6's train made its first run on 29 August 2021. It traveled from Diabari Depot to Mirpur 12. It successfully made its second run on 29 November 2021. It traveled from Uttara to Mirpur 10. The line's train made its longest trial run on 12 December 2021. It traveled from Uttara to Agargaon. The train ran for after invigoration has been run 4 stations along with mirpur to Agargaon station after several months other stations are open. It ran at for and ran at for the rest.Architecture
Line 6 consists of 16 operational elevated stations of length each, and of electricity-powered light rail tracks. All of line 6, save for the depot and some of its accompanying LRT, will be elevated above current roads. Mostly, this will be above road medians to allow traffic flow underneath, with stations also elevated. The Dhaka Metro is projected to serve more than 60,000 passengers per hour by 2022 with headways of approximately 4 minutes. The entire route can be travelled in less than 40 minutes at a speed of, and is expected to drastically reduce the number of private cars on Dhaka's streets as well as their potentially 7-hour-long standstills. The system is using magnetic contactless Integrated Circuit Ticketing, commonly known as smart cards. Platform screen door barriers used at the platform level will increase safety and increase efficiency.Trains of six spacious air-conditioned cars will arrive every four minutes going each way at each of the 16 stations.
The project is being managed by the Communications Ministry's Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Authority, and a consortium of foreign and Bangladeshi firms known as the NKDM Association is acting as the project's general consultant. The NKDM Association consists of Nippon Koei Japan and Development Design Consultants.
Infrastructure
Rolling stock
-based Kawasaki Heavy Industries made the rolling stock for DMTCL.| Feature | Description |
| Nickname | The "Green Train" |
| Dimensions | 19.8m long, 2.95m wide, and 4.1m high |
| Max speed | ~100 km/h |
| Number of cars | 24 trainsets, each with 6 cars, total 144 cars |
| Carrying Capacity | ~60,000 per hour |
| Power Delivery | 1500 V DC via overhead catenary power line |
| Body Material | Stainless Steel |
| Quality of life and safety features | Air conditioned, CCTV surveillance etc |