Metro rail to run past 10pm, trains and frequency to increase

Dhaka metro rail will now operate after 10pm. At the same time, trains will start running earlier in the morning. The interval between two trains will also be reduced. As a result, during peak hours, a train will be available every 4 minutes 15 seconds.

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) said the new schedule will come into effect within the next two weeks. From Friday, additional trains will be operated on a trial basis. Passenger transport will continue during this period.

At present, an average of 420,000 passengers travel daily on the metro rail. Once the new schedule is implemented, DMTCL expects the number of passengers to exceed 500,000.

The company’s Managing Director, Faruk Ahmed, told the media that since recruitment and training of manpower have been completed, trains can now be run at full capacity. This will reduce passengers’ waiting time while also increasing revenue.

According to the new schedule, the first train from Uttara will depart at 6:40am and the last one at 9:30pm. From Motijheel, the first train will depart at 7:00am and the last at 10:10pm. On Fridays, service hours have been extended by 30 minutes.

DMTCL sources said that although there are 24 train sets, 13 are used regularly. Under the new schedule, 20 sets will be used. This will increase the number of daily trips and ensure the use of idle trains.

The country’s first metro rail was inaugurated on 28 December 2022, running from Uttara to Agargaon. Later, it was extended to Motijheel. Construction work is currently underway to extend it to Kamalapur.