Six more metro rail coaches reach Mongla port

The second consignment of six more coaches of the capital's Metrorail project has arrived at Mongla port. The unloading of these carriages from the port jetty started on Sunday evening, said the Mongla Port Authority.

The Belize-flagged ship MV Ocean Grace, which left the Japanese port of Kobe, carrying the consignment, arrived on Sunday at noon at the Mongla port jetty.  The foreign ship's local shipping agent Ancient Steamship Company Limited General Manager Ohiduzzaman said unloading already started.

ABM Arifur Rahman, one of the project directors of Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Company Limited, said 24 passenger coaches would be imported under Package-08 of MRT Line 6. Every coach will have 6 compartments.

Six compartments together cost around Tk100 crore, including VAT and tax.

Earlier, on 31 March, the first six coaches arrived at Mongla port which was later taken to Dhaka via river.

He added that Kawasaki-Mitsubishi in Japan is building 24 sets of trains for the Metrorail project. Each set of train will have two engines on either side. There will be four coaches. 

Each train will have two wheelchairs. Each air-conditioned compartment will have four doors on each side. Each train with Japanese standard security will have a passenger capacity of 1,738.

Rear Admiral Mohammad Musa, chairman of the Mongla Port Authority, said 144 more carriages on 24 ships would be unloaded from the port by 2022.