Country Toady Desk

A series of cartoons drawn to describe a day’s activities of a ‘Metro Girl’ centring Metro Rail, the latest mood of Dhaka’s public transport, are hung on a wall inside the Metro Rail Exhibition and Information Centre.

Sarah Shafqat Nitol, a class six student of Uttara’s Milestone School and College, on Friday was watching these animated characters to know the dos and don’ts of a commuter during use of Metro Rail.

She went to visit the newly opened centre along with a teacher and some of her classmates.

Being impressed by the overall presentation, Nitol said, “This is really good. I’ve connected with it easily and known about the rules of using Metro Rail. Now I can share my experience with my parents so that they don’t find it difficult to board the Metro Rail once it is inaugurated.”

Since the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), the implementing agency of the Metro Rail project, opened the exhibition and information centre inside the Metro Rail depot in the capital’s Diabari on September 6, interested city dwellers have been visiting it in large numbers.

The first thing that comes to a visitor’s sight is a ticket vending machine which is set up at the left side of the exhibition and information centre so that commuters can learn how to purchase single journey ticket and top up their cards without taking anyone’s help.

All the instructions displayed in the vending machine are so simple and commuters have no reason to be confused. Yet if they face any problem, there will be a ticket office next to the machine to facilitate the process manually.

After buying ticket or refilling cards, passengers will need to punch that into an automated gate to get onto a Metro Rail station platform.

The exhibition centre begins with heart touching sculptures in memory of the Japanese consultants of the Metro Rail who were brutally killed in the terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on July 1, 2016.
Then comes a series of photographs hung on a wall which depict different phases of the Metro Rail project while the cartoon pictures of the ‘Metro Girl’ are hung next to it.

A mock-up of the coach and a display of the Farmgate-Karwan Bazar Metro Rail route amaze the visitors at the right side of the centre.

The biggest surprise is the replica coach set up at the right corner of the centre where a passenger will get the taste of riding an actual carriage of the Metro Rail.

Crossing the censored door, commuters can enter the coach where they will get 16 seats available though most of the passengers will travel standing in the coach due to short distance between the stations and time saving journey.

The whole process of traveling through the Metro Rail will be friendly to the persons who are physically challenged. Any passenger will be able to board the coach with wheelchair as well.

There is a cockpit adjacent to the dummy coach which displays how the 59 trained operators, including two women, will operate the Metro Rail from their room.

Though the Metro Rail is a software based transport which will be run electrically, the commuters will get a firsthand experience of observing the control panel through visiting the room.

While returning from the carriage, passengers will get different signage and their meanings, list of dos and don’ts during their journey and complete maps, designs and route plans of MRT-6, MRT-5 and MRT-1.

Speaking about the Metro Rail Exhibition and Information Centre, DMTCL Managing Director MAN Siddique said, “The centre has been established with the aim of informing and educating commuters of the Metro Rail before it begins operation in December this year. We invite people from all walks of life to visit the centre.”

According to DMTCL management, the authorities set up the centre to avoid peculiar situation created after the opening of the Padma Bridge on June 25.

Any interested citizen can visit the Metro Rail Exhibition and Information Centre purchasing a ticket spending only Tk 10. The centre will remain open all the days of the week except Sunday.