Dhaka Metro Rail

Dhaka Metro
Overview
Native name Bengali: ঢাকা মেট্রো
Locale Dhaka, Bangladesh
Transit type Rapid transit
Number of lines Total 5 lines.under construction: line 6
planned: lines 1, 5
Number of stations under construction: 16
planned: 52
Daily ridership 2021 (projected): 483,000
Headquarters Dhaka, Bangladesh
Website http://www.dmtc.org.bd/
Operation
Operation will start 2021[1]
Operator(s) Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd.
Technical
System length 20.10 km (12.49 mi)[2] (line 6)
Track gauge Standard gauge
Electrification 1500V DC via overhead catenary

The Dhaka Metro (Bengali: ঢাকা মেট্রো) is an approved metro rail system under construction in Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. Together with a separate BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) system it has been long called for to solve the extreme amount of traffic jams and congestion that occur throughout the entire city on a daily basis, among the heaviest in the world. It is a part of the 20-year long Strategic Transport Plan (STP) chalked out by the Government's Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA).[3]

Currently the metro rail system consists of one line referred to as the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) Line-6, with other metro rail lines being added in the future. This Wikipedia article focuses mainly on Dhaka MRT Line-6.

The Dhaka Metro Rail Line-6 consists of 16 elevated stations each of 180m long and 20.1 km of electricity powered light rail tracks. MRT Line-6. All of Line-6, save for the depot, as well as some of its accompanying BRT, will be elevated above current roads primarily above road medians to allow traffic flow underneath, with stations also elevated.[4]

Construction began on 26 June 2016 with an inauguration ceremony presided over by Sheikh Hasina.[5] The civil work is being done by the Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited and Sinohydro Corporation Limited JV and a Tokyo based construction company is developing the depot’s land.[6]

Overview

The deal for construction of the 20.1 kilometres (12.5 mi)[7] Line 6, costing $2.8 billion, was signed by the Government of Bangladesh with the Japan International Cooperation Agency on 20 February 2013.[8] This first route, originally projected to start from uttara, a northern suburb of Dhaka, to Sayedabad, in the south of the capital,[9] was eventually extended north to Uttara and truncated south to Motijheel.[10]

Each train will hold up to 1800 passengers. With 56 trains to be in service by 2019, Dhaka Metro is projected to serve more than 60,000 passengers per hour by 2021, with wait times of approximately 4 minutes.[11] The entire route will be able to be travelled in less than 40 minutes at an average speed of 100 km/h (62 mph), expected to drastically reduce the number of private cars on Dhaka's streets as well as their potentially 7-hour-long standstills.[12]

During an interview with a local news paper, Md Mofazzel Hossain, Project Director of Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project said "The metro rail would be noise-free, with noise barriers and vibration-free lines, and the cars would be made of stainless steel and aluminium alloy".[13] The system plans to use magnetic contactless Integrated Circuit Ticketing commonly also known as smart cards.[3] Platform screening door (PSD) barriers used in the platform level will increase safety and increase efficiency.[3]

When the service is in full operation, trains of six air-conditioned spacious cars will arrive every four minutes going each way at each of the 16 stations.[13]

The project is being managed by the Communications Ministry's Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Authority, and a consortium of foreign as well as Bangladeshi firms known as NKDM Association is acting as General Consultant (GC). NKDM Association consists of: Nippon Koei Japan, Nippon Koei India, Delhi Metro Rail Corp (India), Mott MacDonald UK, Mott MacDonald India and Development Design Consultants (local consultant-Bangladesh) t.[4]

Conception and Origin

In a view to implement Dhaka City's 20-year long Strategic Transport (STP), Bangladesh Government invited Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to conduct a primary survey and feasibility study on the transport system of Dhaka back in 2009–2010. In 2012 the Government’s Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project. A loan agreement between Bangladesh Government and JICA was signed in January 2013. The same year, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd. (DMTC), the implementing agency of MRT Line-6 project was formed. The General Consultant (GC) namely the NKDM Association (See above) commenced work from February 2014.

In June 2013, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTC) was established by the Government to implement the Metro Rail Lines across the City.[14] The project will be constructed under the supervision of (DMTCL) under the jurisdiction of Road Transport and Highway Division, Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, Government of Bangladesh. Once complete, metro rail services would be operated by DMTCL.

Project Components, Dates and Progress

During an interview with daily sun, Md Mofazzel Hossain, Project Director of Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project said that the project will be implemented under eight construction packages (CP). The development components or construction packages include – CP-01 (Depot Land Development), CP-02 (Depot Civil & Buildings), CP-03, CP-04 (Viaduct & Stations, Uttara-Agargaon), CP-05, CP-06 (Viaduct & Stations, Agargaon-Motijheel), CP-07 (Electro-Mechanical Systems) and CP-08 (Rolling Stock & Depot Equipment).[13]

Utility relocation from Mirpur-10 to Agargaon was planned to start August 2016, Other surveys have already been completed during the period of 2014 – October 2016 as mentioned by the project director Topographic Survey, Traffic Survey, Geotechnical Survey, Right of Way (ROW) Survey, Historical Importance/ Archeological (HIA) Survey, Environmental Baseline (EBL) Survey, Soil Electric Resistivity (SER) Survey and Utility Verification Survey.

[13]

As of May 2015, soil testing for the line was completed, with construction for the first section having begun on 26 June 2016,[5] and construction for the second section planned to begin in July 2017, for planned public operation by the end of 2019 and sometime in 2020, respectively.[2][7]

A Japanese firm Tokyo Construction Ltd, is carrying out the depot land development work (CP-01). Tokyu Construction Ltd will develop the depot on a 23.84-hectare of land during the construction period at the cost of around ৳5.67 billion (US$73 million). He said the Pre-Qualification (PQ) of CP-02 has already done and 15 firms are qualified for this. Tender for CP-02 is already floated and the last date of the submission is 6 September this year. While asked about CP-03 and CP-04, he said PQ process has been done on 20 April this year. Tender has been invited and the last date of submission is 8 August 2016. But the date may be extended, he mentioned.[13]

Route alignment

Tentative alignments have been decided upon for the three initial metro lines. Only Line 6, as of 27 June 2016, has a definite station layout.

MRT Line 6
 Uttara North
 Uttara Centre
 Uttara South
 Pallabi
 Mirpur 11
 Mirpur-10
 Kazipara
 Shewrapara
 Agargaon
 Bijoy Sarani
 Farmgate
 Karwan Bazar
 Shahbag
 Dhaka University
 Bangladesh Secretariat
 Motijheel

References

  1. ↑ https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2017/12/24/2017-review-will-people-see-padma-bridge-take-shape-2018
  2. 1 2 "Officials hope to start operation of Dhaka metro rail project partially by end of 2019". The Daily Star. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "About MRT Line-6". DHAKA MASS TRANSIT COMPANY LTD. DHAKA MASS TRANSIT COMPANY LTD. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  4. 1 2 UK, DVV Media. "Dhaka metro construction officially launched again". Railway Gazette. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  5. 1 2 "PM opens work on metro, BRT". The Daily Star. 27 June 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  6. ↑ "Just 12% progress made in metro rail project in 4 years". Dhaka Tribune. 12 October 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Japan provides funds for Dhaka Metro rail system". Railway-Technology.com. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Bangladesh, Japan strike deal for $2.8-bln Dhaka metro rail". GlobalPost. 20 February 2013. Archived from the original on 21 May 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  9. ↑ "Muhith to sit with armed forces to resolve metro rail site dispute". The Financial Express. 25 June 2011.
  10. ↑ "In 37 minutes". 26 June 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  11. ↑ http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2014/09/23/dhaka-metrorail-to-carry-60000-people-per-hour
  12. ↑ https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2012/12/22/traffic_chaos_reigns_in_bangladesh.html
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Sun, The Daily. "Metro rail construction in progress". Metro rail construction in progress | daily-sun.com. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  14. ↑ "About DMTC Line 6- The Official Website for the Dhaka MRT Project". DHAKA MASS TRANSIT COMPANY LTD. DHAKA MASS TRANSIT COMPANY LTD. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
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