Passengers rejoice as metro rail resumes operation after a month

Passenger transport on metro rail services resumed today (25 August) after being closed for more than a month.

The first train started from Uttara North Metro Station at 7:10am today, and the first train from Motijheel departed at 7:30am. 

Now trains are running regularly every 8-10 minutes from both ends.

The regular commuters of Uttara and Mirpur, especially the office commuters, are quite excited as the metro rail has opened after a long period of closure.

“I am so relieved. It feels so good to be able to travel comfortably again,” Sohrab Hossain, a banker who resides in Shewrapara, said. 

“My office is near Gulistan, and I have to reach there before 9am. So, I had to get out at least one and a half hours before that from Shewrapara by other transport. In other words, I had to leave before 7:30am to reach the office at 9 o’clock,” he added.

“I could not even have a proper breakfast. Even if I leave only half an hour before 9am on the metro rail, I can reach the office on time,” Sohrab said. 

Election Commission official Nahid Khan, a resident of Uttara, said, “The matter was different when there was no metro rail in the country. But now we are used to using the metro rail.

“Travelling from Uttara to Agargaon through any other medium is like a huge battle. It takes a lot of time, effort and money. We are very happy with the launch of metro rail again,” he added. 

However, even though the train is running from Motijheel to Uttara at regular time and as per schedule, Kazipara and Mirpur-10 stations of the metro rail affected by arson during the student protests still remain closed.

As per a notification of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL) yesterday (24 August), no trains will stop at the two stations. Besides, no other passenger services will be provided from these two stations. 

Meanwhile, Muhammad Fawzul Kabir Khan, advisor to the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, will visit the metro station today. 

As per schedule, he will be present at Agargaon Metro Station at 10am today. At 10:30am, he will board the metro and go to the Bangladesh Secretariat Metro Station.

After the interim government took over, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on 11 August ordered to resume the metro rail services as soon as possible. Accordingly, the DMTCL authorities announced the resumption of metro rail services from 17 August.

However, DMTCL said that starting the metro rail from 17 August will not be possible due to the workers’ going on strike.

Later on last Tuesday (20 August), the workers withdrew from the strike and returned to work. Then, the metro rail authorities decided to resume from today.

On 18 July, when the traffic police box was set on fire at Dhaka’s Mirpur No 10 roundabout during the students’ protests demanding quota reform, metro rail service was stopped from 5:30pm that day due to security concerns.

Then on 19 July, extensive vandalism and looting were carried out at Metro rail’s Mirpur-10 and Kazipara stations. The service was announced to be closed indefinitely.