Metro Rail: Mock-up on public display soon

In order to inform people about the metro rail -- a new mode of public transport in Bangladesh, a mock-up of the coach will be displayed soon.

The display will start at the Metro Rail Exhibition & Information Center in the capital's Uttara next month.

There, people will be able to learn about the looks of the inside of the train and the ticket-buying process, MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL), told The Daily Star yesterday.

DMTCL, a government-owned company, is implementing the metro rail projects. Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)-6, which is first among six such projects, is the route between Uttara Third Phase and Motijeel.

Siddique said they brought the mock-up coach from Japan on December 26 last year and kept it inside the under-construction exhibition and information centre at Uttara's Diabari.

"Today [Monday], we have unpacked the [mock-up] coach and installed it at the base of the exhibition centre, so that other incomplete work can be done smoothly," he said.

All work will be completed soon and the mock-up coach will be opened for public late next month, he said.

Besides, they will set up a mechanism there so that people can have first-hand experiences like how to buy tickets at a station, he added.

Construction work of the Tk 22,000-crore MRT Line-6, which began in 2016, has made 40.36 per cent progress as of January, and is expected to be opened to the public on December 16, 2021, coinciding with the golden jubilee of the country's independence.

Once completed, the rail service, which has 16 stations, will be able to carry 60,000 passengers per hour, reducing travel time from Uttara to Motijheel to at least less than an hour from the current two hours.

More than nine kilometres of the 20.1km long viaduct is now visible and work is continuing on the remaining ones.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to extend the line -- now under construction from Uttara to Motijheel -- up to Kamalapur Railway Station so that people can avail the rail service directly from the country's largest railway station.

The topographical survey for it has already been done and now a "social survey" is being conducted. After completing the extension work, the total length of the rail route would be 21.26km with 17 stations.