DHAKA: On Wednesday, Bangladesh’s expansive capital officially opened its first metro rail line as officials try to reduce traffic. As the traffic has stifled expansion and stoked tensions in the gridlocked city.
One of the most crowded cities in the world, Dhaka’s 22 million residents are constantly frustrated by their daily travels through the city’s congested highways.
According to local academics, the economy of the city loses upwards of $3 billion annually due to lost work time caused by traffic congestion. As the traffic is frequently made worse by frequent public protests and monsoonal downpours.
By 2030, the newly constructed elevated railway network, which has been under construction for for ten years, is expected to have grown to over one hundred stations and six lines that crisscross the city.
On Wednesday, the first line’s section connecting a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Dhaka with the city centre began operating. The $2.8 billion project was mostly supported by Japanese development money.
At a ceremony to commemorate the first service, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, “This first metro rail line is also another source of pride for us.”
She continued, “We pledged to get rid of traffic congestion in Dhaka. “We will be able to accomplish so with the six metro rail lines.”
When fully operating, the line is planned to handle 60,000 passengers per hour, and commuters have eagerly anticipated its opening.
“On it we are depending. It will lessen public suffering, said Mostafizur Rahman, who commutes by bus for over three hours every morning.
Hasina used the inaugural ceremony to pay tribute to the six Japanese rail engineers who died while working on project. And a few were also killed in a 2016 militant attack on a cafe in Dhaka.
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— Andy Vermaut (@AndyVermaut) December 28, 2022