Metro rail sees 10% drop in passengers: DMTCL

Dhaka’s metro rail has seen a decline in daily number of passengers by 10% following the recent bearing pad incident, according to Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) Managing Director Md Faruk Ahmed.

Speaking to reporters, the DMTCL chief said the earthquake caused no physical displacement or structural shift in the metro rail system.

“There has been no physical displacement of the infrastructure,” he confirmed.

Faruk also expressed concern over recent security-related incidents.

“Last week a drone fell on the tracks. In the past few days, a total of seven crude bombs have been found,” he said, urging the media to raise public awareness.

“This asset does not belong to DMTCL alone—it belongs to the entire nation. We must all work to protect it,” he added.

The MD said average daily number of passengers previously stood at around 460,000, but the number has now dropped to approximately 400,000.

On Sunday night (30 Nov), metro rail operations were suspended after a teenage boy climbed onto the roof of a train between two coaches at the Secretariat station.

Explaining the incident, Faruk said, “As soon as our security team detected the boy on the roof, they removed him immediately. Thankfully, no harm was done.”

The teenager reportedly boarded at Karwan Bazar, climbed between two coaches on the way to Agargaon, and later continued to the Secretariat station, where he was brought down.

Train services were halted to conduct full security sweeps of every train.

“This morning, we used a sweeper train to ensure no one was onboard,” he added. “For us, safety is always the first priority.”

DMTCL has announced that surveillance will be increased, including installing CCTV cameras at station entry points.

“This will help us identify the source of incidents and track movement more effectively,” the MD said.

He added that awareness initiatives in the Farmgate Park area have reached around 65% of local residents as part of efforts to prevent further security breaches.