Subway in Dhaka City | Solution of Traffic Congestion

The plan of the subway in Dhaka city is not limited only in the plan or in paper. As per plan of the Government, the initiative is being implemented and it will be done during this government. Government says the work of the subway project will be started during this government's tenure.

The involved people about this exclusive project said that the present government is going to bring the issue of setting up a subway rail in the capital. The green signal was given from the top level of the government to implement this dream plan. In this government period, there are plans to introduce at least two subway routes in Dhaka city. In the first phase, the government has taken a plan to construct the first and second route of total 48-kilometer long Tongi to Sayedabad and Aminbazar to Sayedabad on the basis of public-private partnership (PPP). The potential cost of building this route can be approximately 8 billion US dollars.

Some major ongoing projects like Padma Bridge, Metro Rail in Dhaka and Ruppur Nuclear Power Plants are no longer a dream; within recent years these mega projects will be reality. From this reality, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has now given priority to setting up a subway in the capital. Prior to the election of 2018, the Prime Minister pledged to launch a subway service in an election rally in Gulshan. She said that if the Awami League returns to power through the election, they will start the subway service to eliminate the annoying traffic congestion in the capital. The World Bank is interested in funding such a project by donor organization to reduce traffic congestion in Dhaka.

After completion of the subway rail, the passenger train will be running around 30 meters below the surface. It will be able to provide about 4 million passengers transport facilities in the city. The present Planning Minister MA Mannan told that the Prime Minister's priority was to get rid of traffic congestion in the capital. The government has also started to scrutinize feasibility for sub-railway services. He said that although it is still in the initial stage, it is going to be implemented from the planning of the sub-rail service in Dhaka city. He also said that when a subway was constructed, a large portion of the population would be able to move under the ground. This will reduce the movement of people above the ground and increase the empty and free space which will be lower off traffic congestion.

The government has approved the feasibility of constructing a subway rail line in Dhaka in July 2018. Spanish company Typsa is examining the feasibility of the project. The company will verify the feasibility of constructing four subway routes in Dhaka at a cost of BDT 220 Crores. Survey work will be done by determining four subway routes in Dhaka. In this regard, the Bridge Division has signed a contract with Typsa in August last year.

Primary selected routes of subway in Dhaka:

• The first route will be around 32 kilometers in length; it will be from Tongi – Airport – Kakali – Mohakhali – Moghbazar – Paltan – Motijheel Shapla Chattar – Sayedabad, which will be extended to Narayanganj in the future. For this, the potential construction cost is estimated to be US$ 5.66 billion.

• Secondly, a 16 km long subway line-2 will be from Aminbazar – Gabtali – Shyamoli – Asadgate - New Market – TSC - Ittefaq Moor - Sayedabad. Later it will extend on both sides. The possible construction cost will be US$ 2.87 billion.

• Thirdly, route-3 will be conducted from Gabtali – Mirpur 1 – Mirpur 10 – Kakoli – Gulshan 2 – Natun Bazar - Rampura TV Station – Khilkhet – Motijheel Shapla Chattar - Jagannath Hall - Keraniganj.

• Under route-4, the probability route of the subway will be from Rampura TV station – Niketan – Tejgaon - Sonargaon Hotel – Panthapath - Dhanmondi 27 – Jigatala – Azimpur - Lalbagh - Sadarghat.

The length of root-3 and root-4 has not finalized yet. The underground depth of these subways will be from 20 to 40 meters. Sophisticated Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) will be used to construct these subways. So, during the implementation of the project, people will not suffer due to dig on the soil.

Study shows that the expected life time for flyovers is around 50 to 75 years but for subways the short-term period is around 100 to 125 years. The famous London's centennial subway is still active. The executive director of Bangladesh Bridge Authority Khandker Anwarul Islam said, "As per the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we have gone a long way in building the sub-railway." Chief Engineer of Bridge Authority Kazi Md. Ferdous said, "The work of verification of the construction of subway in Dhaka has already started by the Spanish company Typsa".

Various organizations such as BRTA, MRT make discussions together with the undergoing coordination of the subway project. The subway stations will be near to the metro rail stations so that people can easily travel from the subway to the metro rail and from the metro rail to the subway station easily. The project to conduct survey of feasibility study of subway in Dhaka City was a priority project under the seventh Five-year plan.

Bangladesh will be a developed country soon; there must be a subway in the capital of the country.

Thanks a lot for reading.

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