Shawdesh desk:

The services of metro rail again remained suspended for about two hours on Sunday due to storm with lightning and fallen plastic on the overhead catenary system, said officials of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited.

The passengers suffered due to the disruptions in the services on the 20.1-kilometre-long Uttara–Motijheel route.

The metro rail services start at 7:10am daily.

But on Sunday no trains left the stations at that time.

The company deputy project director Tarafdar Mahmudur Rahman said that before the passenger services daily two trains inspect the entire route at 6:o00am.

‘Today around 6:00am a storm with lightning started and an automatic signal came to keep the service closed,’ he said.

Later, in Bijoysarani Station area the fallen plastic had been detected, Tarafdar continued.

After removing it the services had been started, he added.

DMTCL general manager (operation) Mohammad Iftekhar Hossain said that the services were being resumed at about 8:45am.

Earlier on March 19 the services of metro rail again remained suspended for about half an hour as some passengers allegedly blocked metro rail doors.

The services of the country’s first-ever electricity-powered elevated and air-conditioned rail system were suspended for three times in February.

The prime minister launched the Mass Rapid Transit Line – 6 project, popularly known as the metro rail, on the 11.73-kilometre-long Uttara–Agargaon section on December 28, 2022.

On November 4, 2023, the prime minister inaugurated the service from Agargaon to Motijheel.

The entire MRT Line 6 project on the 21.26-kilometre-long Uttara-Kamalapur route is scheduled to be inaugurated in December 2025.