Metro rail service resumes after around an hour’s suspension

Metro rail services from Uttara North to Motijheel resumed after being halted for around one hour due to a "technical glitch".

Trains were seen running in both directions since around 4:00pm.

MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), said the there were problems in the electricity supply, leading to the suspension. 

"The operation resumed after checking the entire line manually," he said. 

The suspension lasted for around 45 minutes, he said.

However, one of our correspondents found the Kazipara Station closed around 2:50pm, meaning the services may have been suspended for more than an hour. 

The DMTCL official said trains that were stuck between stations when the suspension started were taken to the next station, and passengers were given the option to stay inside the train or leave.    

"There have been interruptions time and again for this interruption in power supply, and a committee has been formed to identify the root cause of the problem," MAN Siddigue said.  

He also said the entrances to the Uttara North station was kept closed from time to time to cope with the huge pressure of people leaving the Ijtema ground on the last day of the first phase of Biswa Ijtema. 

He said the gates were closed intermittently from 9:30am to 12:30pm. 

The two disruptions in the service on the first day of the work week hit commuters hard. Many had to deal with overcrowding on concourses and platforms in the morning, while those affected by the suspension had to find alternative modes of transport to get to their destinations on the busy weekday. 

Rokshana Yeasmin, who works at a private firm, said, "I arrived at Farmgate station at 3:30pm, and I had to go to Paltan [Secretariat station] for urgent business. I found a huge number of people in front of the entrance, but there were no trains passing overhead. So, I was compelled to go to Paltan on a CNG-run auto-rickshaw, which cost me Tk 200, instead of the Tk 30 I would have had to pay on the metro rail."

Dipon Pandey, another private service holder, waited for more than 30 minutes from 3:30pm outside the Secretariat station. He gave up when he saw there were no signs of the station opening. 

"I could not even find an auto-rickshaw, and had to board a bus to come to Farmgate."