Bangladesh will enter the metro rail era on Wednesday as prime minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the country's first metro train in the afternoon on the Uttara-Agargaon route.
By introducing the metro rail service, the country is also going to have the first-ever electricity-powered rail system.
The prime minister is scheduled to travel from Uttara to Agargaon on the train as the first passenger in a reserved coach after opening the service at the Uttara North Station at 2:00pm.
Along with her, there will be 200 invited guests in other compartments of the same train.
Prior to the launch of the novel service, the prime minister is scheduled to join a gathering of citizens at Uttara Sector 15.
The entirely elevated service will be open to the public on Thursday at 8:00am. Initially, the service will run for four hours daily without stopping at any station between Uttara and Agargaon.
People living along the Uttara-Agargaon route will have to follow seven-point special measures today, ordered by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, in order to ensure security for the prime minister on the occasion of the inaugural ceremony.
No one will be allowed to stay at the buildings, flats, hotels, restaurants and commercial spaces and to attach or hang photos or festoons on any building or flat on both sides of the metro rail line while all banks and all ATM booths on the two sides shall remain closed from the morning till the end of the event.
The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited has been implementing the Mass Rapid Transit Line-6 project, popularly known as metro rail, since 2012.
An air-conditioned metro train will run on the 11.73-kilometre-long Uttara-Agargaon route without touching any station on the route, taking around 17 minutes on Wednesday.