Bangladesh inaugurates its first line on the Dhaka Metro

Dhaka is one of the most congested capitals in the world, so the opening of its first metro line was eagerly awaited by the local population. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated phase 1 of line 6 on 28 December 2022. This section, which connects the districts of Uttara North and Agargaon as well as the BRTC* bus stations, represents more than half of the project’s total length.

We are very pleased to be part of the completion of the metro in Bangladesh. This is a major step in the transformation of its capital city, which meets its ambition to offer safe and fast transport to an ever-growing population. Our teams remain fully mobilised to support the design of Line 5 and Line 1, for which we won a major contract at the end of 2022.

Hari Somalraju, Managing Director, SYSTRA India

A metro co-signed by SYSTRA

SYSTRA’s teams participated in the design of Line 6 from 2018 with the Indian manufacturer Larsen & Toubro (L&T), to carry out studies of the track and power supply systems, as well as the connection to the maintenance centre. A major feature of this overhead line is the 1,500-volt DC catenary power supply, which requires the integration of pylons on the viaduct infrastructure to support the overhead contact line.

The ambitions of an expanding network

The next step for Line 6 is the commissioning of phase 2 from Agargaon to Motijheel, expected in 2023 and for which work is more than 70% complete, before a phase 3 towards Kamalapur in 2025, which will be interconnected with the future Line 1 and the capital’s railway station. Once complete, the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) network will extend over 129km, almost half of which will be underground. It should have 112 stations and 6 lines, of which 4 are planned and 2 are under construction.

A long track record of success for SYSTRA on the Dhaka Metro

Since the feasibility study for Line 5 in 2016, our first contract in the country, SYSTRA has been regularly called upon by the DMTCL**, the authority in charge of developing the Dhaka Metro: the feasibility studies for line 6, the installation of switches and ventilation systems for Line 1 in 2019, the execution studies and supervision of work on the northern section of Line 5 in 2021, and finally the supervision of the 12 civil engineering, electrification and systems packages for Line 1 in 2022.

Key features – Line 6 of the Dhaka Metro

*BRTC: Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation

** DMTCL: Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited