Khandaker Zannatun Nahar Jerry
Obaidul Quader, Minister for Road Transport and Bridges and General Secretary of Bangladesh Awami League, said that the first set of six-coach Metro Train arrived at the newly constructed jetty adjacent to the Metro Rail Depot at Turag river in Dhaka yesterday. He said that the work of unloading the metro train from the coach barge and bringing it to the depot has started this morning and he also hoped that the metro train set would reach the depot by tomorrow.
The Minister said this while exchanging views with the officials of Gopalganj Road Zone, BRTA and BRTC through video conference from his residence on Thursday. The minister further said that the shipping of the second metro train set was completed yesterday at Kobe seaport in Japan, which will reach Uttara depot via Mongla port by June 16. The third and fourth metro train sets are expected to reach Uttara depot via Mongla port in Bangladesh between June 11 and August 13. Besides, the probable date of shipment of the fifth train set from Japan is July 16 and the probable date of arrival in Bangladesh is September 17.
He said the total number of coaches in the first phase is 144 and the number of trains are 24. Each metro train has a passenger capacity of 2308 people.The Minister said that the progress of construction work of Agargaon section from Uttara third phase scheduled for construction in the first phase is 83.52 percent, while the progress of construction work from Agargaon to Motijheel section in the second phase is 56.68 percent; And the overall progress in the procurement of electrical and mechanical systems and rolling stock depot equipment is 52.22 percent. He said the overall progress of the construction of the first metro rail in the country is 71.49 percent.
It may be mentioned that the government has completed the land development work of the depot area 9 months ahead of schedule. 70 crore 58 lakh has been saved. Out of the total 52 infrastructures scheduled for construction inside the depot, construction of 13 infrastructures has been completed.
The erection of the entire section of the 11.73 km viaduct scheduled for construction in the first phase was completed on February 28. Out of the total 20.10 km viaduct, erection of 13.97 km viaduct has already been completed. Besides, construction work of 16 metro railway stations is in progress. The work of laying the railway line inside the depot has been completed. Already on the viaduct9 km railway line has been laid.
Installation of OCS Mast inside the Depot has been completed and installation of Overhead Catenary Wire is in progress. In addition, the work of installing OCS portal and mast in 9.60 km track up to Taltola on the viaduct has been completed and 2.25 km wiring has been completed.
Chief Engineer of the Department of Roads and Highways, Abdus Sabur, Additional Chief Engineer (Planning and Maintenance) Monir Hossain Pathan, Additional Secretary (Development) of Road Transport and Highways Department Abdul Malek, Additional Chief Engineer of Gopalganj Road Zone, Supervising Engineer, Executive Engineer and other BRTA and BRTC officials were present online at the meeting.
