On December 28, 2022, the day when Bangladesh's first urban light rail line, Line 6, opened, a Chinese builder who had been working on the construction site for five years boarded the train he had participated in building for the first time. The carriage was crowded with citizens rushing to check-in. Someone recognized the sign on his work uniform and took him for a photo, saying that it used to take two hours to take the bus to work, but now it only takes twenty minutes to arrive. That scene became the most unforgettable memory for many Chinese builders in Dhaka.

Starting from a vehicle depot

Behind this memory is a vehicle depot known as the home of trains. Power China has formed a joint venture with Thai companies to undertake the construction of the CP02 section of Line 6, with a contract amount of approximately 15.9 billion taka. The construction includes the operation control center, training center, maintenance shed, car wash shed, and supporting ancillary facilities, and is responsible for the parking, daily maintenance, train inspection, and weekly/monthly inspection tasks of all trains along the line. The project started in September 2017, completed the entire project in February 2023, and received the completion performance certificate issued by the consulting engineer in September 2024. Nowadays, Line 6 transports about 300000 passengers per day, compressing the originally two-hour commute to around thirty minutes.

The components of Line 1

The Dhaka Light Rail Line 1 signed this time has a heavier weight. It is a key backbone line in the overall plan of Dhaka rail transit, with a total length of 31.24 kilometers, connecting Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport and Kamalapur, and has a Pulbachar elevated branch line. It is also the country's first underground railway line, jointly financed by the Bangladeshi government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency. After completion, the line will connect the main urban area of Dhaka with surrounding towns, linking the core commercial district and important transportation hubs, and helping Dhaka's rail transit form a multi line network and a combination of fast and slow light rail network system.

Appointment to travel to Dhaka again

On October 27, 2026 local time, the ceremony for Power China to sign the general contracting contract for the construction of the civil and housing section (CP02) of Dhaka Light Rail Transit Line 1 in Bangladesh was held in Dhaka. Representatives from the Highway Transport and Highways Department of the Ministry of Transport of Bangladesh, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and other parties attended. The previously announced procurement plan shows that the contract amount for this section is approximately 42.851 billion taka.

Power China is currently the only Chinese enterprise that has successfully implemented the JICA financed light rail project section construction in Bangladesh through a joint general contracting model. From the world's largest river improvement project, the Padma Bridge River Improvement Project, to the important power pillar in the south, the Barisa coal-fired power plant, this company has left a solid engineering imprint in the local area. With excellent performance records and engineering quality, China Electric Power Construction has won high recognition from the owner and successfully won this project.

For Dhaka, which has a population of over 100 million and has long suffered from congestion, Line 1 represents a new urban rhythm; For Power China, this is a trust renewal spanning ten years. The train has not yet started, but the changed trajectory has already begun to unfold.Editor/Yang Meiling