People relieved as Bangladesh opens 1st metro line to ease traffic gridlocks

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Thrilled by the country’s first-ever metro rail service, people in Bangladesh flocked to the capital Dhaka on Thursday to take their first ride in the train, which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated on Wednesday.

Nearly 70-year-old Alimul Islam, a Bangladeshi national, hailing from a remote village in the country’s southern coastal district of Noakhali, on Thursday came to Dhaka’s Uttara area to be a witness and first passenger of the country’s first-ever metro rail services.

“I came to Dhaka only to be a passenger of the first-ever launched metro rail and be a part of history,” overjoyed Islam told Anadolu Agency.

Hasina on Wednesday formally inaugurated the 11.73-kilometer (7 miles) part of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6 of the metro rail project from Uttara to Agargaon by unveiling its plaque at Diabari neighborhood in the city.

Initially, the metro train will run from 8 a.m. to 12 noon every day on this route, and from March 26, 2023, this line will be fully functional.

The metro rail will run from Agargaon to Motijheel in the second phase, and from Motijheel to Kamalapur railway station in the third phase by 2025.

Like Islam, many people who were overwhelmed by the first elevated expressway in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, got on the train to enjoy the ride.

“I am a resident of Dhaka’s Mirpur neighborhood. The train line has gone through our residential area. We have suffered a lot in the last decade. But now it’s our great pleasure to see the beautiful metro rail that we have been watching on the television screen till date,” Mahfuza Khanom, a housewife, told Anadolu Agency.

People hoped the service will ease the traffic congestion on the roads of Dhaka, a megacity of nearly 20 million people.

- Traffic jams, air quality

According to the World Traffic Index 2022, Dhaka ranks 9th in the traffic index among 246 countries in the world. Due to these traffic jams, around 19 million working hours are being lost daily in Bangladesh, adversely affecting the country’s economy.

Besides, 6% to 10% of the country’s GDP is lost every year due to traffic jams, the index records.

According to the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh loses 1.38 billion Bangladeshi taka (approximately $14 million) every day due to traffic jams.

“We hope that once the metro rail services from Uttara to Kamalapur are functional by 2025, we will get the full benefit of it,” Saiful Islam, an employee at a private bank, said, adding that this eco-friendly communication will also improve the air quality of the city.

Dhaka is one of the world’s most polluted cities in terms of air quality with the World Health Organization marking it as “very unhealthy.”

- Electricity-run metro rail and power crisis

Against the backdrop of recent massive opposition protests across Bangladesh against the acute power crisis, people also expressed concerns over the uninterrupted power supply for the electricity-run metro rail services.

According to official estimation, it will take 160 megawatts of electricity per day for the daily operation of the metro rail once it starts its full operation by 2025 and the power would be supplied from the national grid.

“While we are severely suffering from the power shortage and our industrial production is reducing due to lack of electricity, I am confused whether the metro rail services will be smooth,” Mohammad Nahiduzzaman, a private job holder and also a passenger of the first metro rail, told Anadolu Agency.

Meanwhile, President M. Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have greeted the countrymen and those involved in the implementation of the elevated metro rail project.

The international community, including the US and Japan, also congratulated Bangladesh on its advancement in the communication sector.