Daily commuters have expressed joy as the Metro Rail authorities have begun operating trains every eight minutes during peak hours.
MN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, said the number of metro rail trips increased to 26 and as a result a total of 178 trains will run each day instead of 152.
About the new timings, Siddique said, three trains will run from Uttara between 7:10am to 7:30am and in the peak hour -- from 7:31am to 11:48am -- a train will run in every eight minutes. After that, train will run from 11:49am to 3:12pm (off peak hours) every 12 minutes as before and every eight minutes from 3:13pm to 8:00pm (peak hours), he added.
Nazrul Isalm, a regular commuter of the Metro Rail at Mirpur-11 Rail Station, said the pressure of commuters is comparatively less due to the new schedule and it's a relief for people.
Hossain, another commuter at the same station, said,"It will be better if the timing can be reduced to 3.5 minutes."
Except Friday, now Metro Rail will run from Uttara-Motijheel from 7:10am to 8:40pm while the MRT and Rapid Pass users can travel by metro rail that leaves Motijheel station after 8:00pm.
Siddique said that currently metro trains carry about 2.70 lakh passengers on an average every day.
