Daily commuters including service holders and traders have expressed joy as the Metro Rail authorities are operating trains every 8 minutes during peak hours from Saturday.

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, said MN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), reports UNB.

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 7:10 am to 8:40 pm while the MRT and Rapid Pass users can travel by metro rail that leaves Motijheel  station at 8 pm.

At present, the trains run every 10 minutes during peak hours and every 12 minutes during off-peak hours. The new timings are applicable for peak hours only, said MN Siddique.

He said that earlier the number of trains' trips were 152 every day, now it has been increased to 178.

Siddique said that currently metro trains carry about 2.70 lakh passengers on an average every day.

Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque