The services of metro rail are going to resume at the Mirpur 10 station today about three months after it was closed following vandalism by some people during the student-led mass uprising.
At a press conference at Uttara Depot, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited managing director Md Abdur Rouf said that from Tuesday 7:00am the Mirpur 10 station would be reopened.
鈥榃e did not take assistance from the foreign contractors and consultants,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥楾he DMTCL鈥檚 technical team have done replacement, repair and reconstruction which proved that we are capable of doing these.鈥�
The managing director also mentioned that they had done these works at a low cost using the local technology and products such as glass and tiles and by shifting materials from three less crowded stations鈥揃ijoy Sarani, Uttara south and Uttara centre鈥� they had repaired these two damaged stations.
Replying to a question, he said that they would keep it in mind to use local products by ensuring quality while implementing the next metro rail projects.
The officer also said that they had introduced 2,68,441 single journey tickets which were supposed to be bought inside the stations and then returned before leaving the stations.
鈥楥urrently, about 13,000 of these tickets are lost, 6,881 have been damaged and around two lakh are missing,鈥� he said, urging people to return these tickets to save government money.聽
The DMTCL, under the road transport and bridges ministry, is the implementing agency of the country鈥檚 first-ever electricity-powered elevated and air-conditioned rail system on the 20.1-kilometre-long Uttara鈥揗otijheel route in the capital.
On July 19, vending machines, ticket counters, offices, police control rooms, computers, television screens and close circuit cameras inside the Mirpur 10 and Kazipara stations were vandalised.
The authorities closed down metro rail services for an indefinite period from July 20 and the services resumed on August 25.
In July, after vandalism at Mirpur 10 and Kazipara stations, the then road transport and bridges minister, Obaidul Quader, claimed that it would take one year to repair these two stations.
At that time, officials concerned also said that the total damage to Mirpur 10 and Kazipara stations was around Tk 500 crore, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported on July 30.
The Kazipara station was reopened on September 20 which was repaired at a cost of Tk 20.5 lakh.
Abdur Rouf also said that currently on Fridays metro trains ran every 12 minutes while from October 18 the trains would run every 10 minutes to meet pressure of the passengers.
Currently, on Fridays metro trains are giving 60 trips which would be 72 trips from next Friday, he continued.
About the number of the passengers, he mentioned that in September a total of 75,16,135 passengers travelled while the number was 14,38,622 in August and 48,45,729 in July.
The amount of revenue generation was Tk 11.22 crore in first 13 days of October, Tk 33.71 crore in September and Tk 6.6 crore in August.
The services of the country鈥檚 first metro rail system were inaugurated on December 28, 2022, which were extended till Motijheel in November 2023.
