PM Hasina buys Dhaka's first metro rail ticket to become its first passenger

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday became the first passenger of the metro rail buying her own ticket, as she set another milestone in the country's communication history between a span of six-month of opening the dream Padma Bridge.

The first-ever metro train, carrying the prime minister and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana along with around 200 other selected passengers left from North Uttara to Agargaon at 01:53pm today.

Among the 200 riders were freedom fighters, the parliament speaker, ministers, government officials, diplomats, school students and ethnic minority people.

Bangladesh entered a new era today as the PM Hasina inaugurated the country's first-ever elevated electricity-run metro rail in the capital Dhaka this morning.

She flagged off the service of the train at North Uttara station. There she also wrote on the green flags which were used to flag off the train.

Earlier, the prime minister collected the ticket at about 01:35pm at the North Uttara station followed by her younger sister Rehana.

Later, both of them punched their ticket at the entry of the station and boarded the train.

On arrival at the North Uttara Station, the PM planted a sapling there. Her sister Rehana was also present there.

As part of the empowerment of women, Mariam Afiza became the first woman to drive the metro train.

Initially, the metro train will run from 8 am to 12 noon every day from Uttara to Agargaon stations without any stoppage.

State-owned Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) will operate 30 double decker buses to transport passengers from and to metro rail stations.

Of those, 20 buses will be operated on Agargaon-Motijheel route via Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh and Gulistan while 10 buses will run from Uttara's House Building to Uttara's North station at Diabari via Abdullahpur.

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), a government-owned company, is implementing the metro rail project.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been constructing the metro rail and providing soft loan for the project.

The construction work of the MRT Line-6 began in 2016.