The government is working on the expansion of the planned metro rail network for a coordinated modern public transport management system in Dhaka metropolis and its surrounding areas.
“The Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) is now advancing with the plan to create a combined metro rail network,” Road Transport and Highways Division Additional Secretary Mohammed Belayet Hossain told state news agency BSS.
He said four metro-rail routes — Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-1, MRT Line-2, MRT Line-4 and MRT Line-5 — will be constructed to connect capital Dhaka from surrounding areas for better traffic management in the mega city.
Besides, he said, the construction of 1.5 kilometre viaduct, partial structure of MRT Line-6, the country’s first elevated metro rail system in Dhaka city, is going on in full swing to complete it by the end of this year.
Hossain said the 26.60-km MRT Line-1, which is divided into two parts, will run from the airport to Kamalapur having 12 stations with a length of 16.40 kilometers and from Natun Bazar to Purbachal having seven stations with a length of 10.20 km.
The MRT Line-1 is expected to complete by 2026 at a cost of Tk 500 billion.
According to the project details, the MRT Line-1 would have 12 stations including Airport, Airport Terminal-3, Khilkheet, Jamuna Future Park, Natun Bazar, Uttar Badda, Badda, Hatirjheel, Rampura, Malibagh, Rajarbagh and Kamalapur.
The underground and elevated metro rail will have an inter-change facility at Natun Bazar station so passengers can go to Purbachal from Airport route by using the inter-change facility.
In 2018, the government sought expression of interest (EoI) for constructing the underground and elevated metro rail aimed at north-south and east-west links in the capital city.
The MRT Line-2 with a total length of 40 kilometers will stretch from Ashulia to Kamalapur via Savar, Gabtali and BUET. It will be constructed under Government to Government (G to G) arrangements by 2030.
The MRT Line-4 will be 16-km underground rail route under railway tracks from Kamalapur to Narayanganj by 2030.
The work of fixing development associates is underway to conduct a pre-feasibility study of the MRT Line-4.
The 19.60-km MRT Line-5metro rail track will have 14 stations – nine underground and five elevated – will be constructed from Hemayetpur to Vatara via Baliarpur, Madhumati, Amin Bazar, Gabtali, Dar-Us-Salam, Mirpur-1, Mirpur-10, Mirpur-14, Kochukhet, Banani, Gulshan-2, Notun Bazaar.
The MRT Line-5 is expected to be constructed by 2027, as the authority signed a loan agreement with a development associate for engineering service.
The MRT Line-6, the 1.5 kilometer viaduct, partial structure of the country’s first elevated metro rail system for Dhaka, became visible between Uttara and Agargaon, to complete it by the end of this year.
“With the installation of many piers, 1.5-km viaduct of the 20.1-kilometre metro rail has become visible and all the construction work is progressing fast,” MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company, told BSS.
He said the authority finished construction work of around 150 piers out of around 400 of the Uttara-Agargaon part of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6.