Dhaka Metro Rail will extend its daily operating hours by 1 hour starting next Sunday. According to officials, this extension will include an earlier start in the morning and a later service at night.
Currently, trains depart from Uttara North station at 7:10 am. Under the new schedule, the first train will leave at 6:40 am. Similarly, the last train, which now departs at 9:00 pm, will depart at 9:30 pm. From Motijheel, the first train will run at 7:00 am instead of 7:30 am, and the final train will leave at 10:10 pm instead of 9:40 pm. The last train from Motijheel is expected to reach Uttara North around 10:45 pm.
On Fridays, metro services currently begin at 3:00 pm. Under the new timetable, Friday services will start at 2:30 pm and continue half an hour longer into the night.
This adjustment is part of a broader initiative by Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), the authority responsible for the construction and operation of metro rail in the city. DMTCL sources confirmed that this decision was made last month, followed by a trial run starting on September 25. The decision to implement the extended hours was finalized during a meeting held on Tuesday.
DMTCL also plans to increase the number of daily train trips by mid-November. As part of this plan, the interval between trains—currently set at 6 minutes during peak hours, 8 minutes during off-peak, and 10 minutes during super off-peak—will be reduced to 4, 6, and 8 minutes respectively. Currently, metro trains make 238 passenger trips per day. By reducing intervals between trains, the number of daily trips will increase, allowing passengers to wait less and travel faster.
DMTCL sources said the metro system currently uses 12 out of 24 train sets regularly. With the extended hours and additional trips, 19 train sets will be in continuous use. Two sets are always kept in the workshop for testing and maintenance, while one is used early in the morning for line testing before passenger service begins.
DMTCL Managing Director Faruq Ahmed said that they are gradually expanding services after adequate testing. "We're planning to run metro rail for one extra hour from Sunday, and we'll continue trial operations before finalizing the increase in trips, which we hope to implement by mid-next month." Currently, around 450,000 passengers travel on the metro daily. With the extended hours and added trips, DMTCL expects the number to surpass 500,000.
Metro rail service in Dhaka was inaugurated on December 28, 2022, initially operating between Uttara and Agargaon. Over time, more stations were added, and full operations up to Motijheel began on the last days of 2023. Expansion work toward Kamalapur is ongoing.
Originally approved in 2012, the metro rail project had a budget of Tk 21,985 crore, which has since increased to Tk 33,472 crore. The project is being funded in part by a loan of Tk 19,718 crore from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
PT/ra
