Metro rail operations between Motijheel and Shahbagh resumed on Sunday evening after being suspended for almost seven hours.
Train movement was halted around 12:30pm following the death of a man hit by a fallen bearing pad near the Farmgate station. The incident caused major disruption along the Uttara-Motijheel route.
Services resumed partially between Uttara and Agargaon around 3pm, while trains started running from Motijheel to Shahbagh at around 7:15pm, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) said in a statement.
Despite the partial resumption, full operations across the entire line remained suspended as of Sunday night, leaving many commuters stranded during the evening rush hour.
The accident occurred near the Khamarbari area of Farmgate when a bearing pad detached from a metro rail pillar and fell, killing Abul Kalam, a resident of Narayanganj’s Siddhirganj area who worked at a travel agency in Motijheel.
Originally from Naria upazila in Shariatpur, he lived in Narayanganj with his family.
Following the incident, Adviser for Road Transport Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan briefed the media at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital around 3pm.
Kabir mentioned that metro services had resumed between Agargaon and Uttara. He said the rest of the route would take more time to reopen as cranes were needed for repairs and safety inspections to prevent further accidents.
A DMTCL official, requesting anonymity, said the last similar incident occurred on 18 September 2024, when a bearing pad also fell near Farmgate, suspending operations between Agargaon and Motijheel for 11 hours.
According to DMTCL sources, the bearing pads – rubber components connecting the elevated pillars to the viaduct – each weigh around 80 kilograms. Running trains without them risks structural damage or misalignment, prompting the suspension of service for safety checks.
