Opening of metro rail a historic moment: Japanese Embassy

The Japanese Embassy in Dhaka on Wednesday said the opening of the metro rail in Dhaka with Japanese support, marks a historic moment as the final event of the anniversary year of the diplomatic relationship between Bangladesh and Japan.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between the two countries.

The MRT was built with Japanese ODA (yen loan), and this time 9 stations from Uttara north station to Agargaon station on Line 6 were inaugurated.

The country’s first-ever electric railway will provide safe, rapid, comfortable and punctual mass transit service in Dhaka with various Japanese state-of-the-art technologies.

In the future, the MRT Line 6 will be networked with lines 1 and 5, which are scheduled to be completed in 2029.

The MRT network is expected to alleviate chronic urban traffic congestion and reduce air pollution and other environmental impacts, said the Embassy on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Bangladesh's first electric track urban railway (MRT) began its operation, bringing a new mass transit system in Dhaka.

To celebrate this historic event, a ceremony was held and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Obaidul Quader, Minister for Road Transport and Bridges, ABM Amin Ullah Nuri, Secretary of Road Transport and Highways Department, M A N Siddique, Managing Director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, IWAMA Kiminori, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh and ICHIGUCHI Tomohide, Chief Representative of JICA, attended the ceremony.

They were the first passengers on this MRT train on this historic day.