Bangladesh's much-awaited first metro rail service is set to be inaugurated on Tuesday (December 28). It will open to the public a day later.

Initially, the rail network will span 12 kilometres from Uttara’s Diabari to Agargaon.

But due to the location of the Diabari station, residents of Uttara and its surrounding areas will have to travel some distance to access the metro rail. Moreover, many users would have to take a bus or another form of transportation after getting off the trains to reach their ultimate destination, reports bdnews24.com.

Passengers deboarding at Agargaon are likely to face a similar predicament.

However, the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd revealed that the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation will provide shuttle bus services to Diabari for passengers in Uttara and nearby areas. Similarly, a BRTC bus line from Motijheel to Agargaon will be activated for metro rail users.

The DMTCL and the BRTC signed an agreement on Nov 17, designating 50 double-decker buses to shuttle passengers from the Diabari and Agargaon stations.

“Under the agreement, BRTC will carry out the work of transporting passengers,” said MAN Siddique, managing director of DMTCL.

The BRTC confirmed that the 50 double-decker buses will begin operations on the two routes from the inauguration day.

On the Motijheel-Agargaon route, buses will travel via Farmgate, Karwanbazar, Shahbagh and Gulistan. The other route stretches from Diabari to Uttara's House Building bus stop.