The Dubai Metro (in Arabic: مترو
دبي) is a driverless, fully automated metro rail network in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai
The first section of the Red Line, covering 10 stations, was
ceremonially inaugurated at 9:09:09 PM on 9 September 2009, by Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, with the line opening to the public at 6 AM
on 10 September. The Dubai Metro is the first urban train network in the
Arabian Peninsula.More than 110,000 people, which is nearly 10 per cent of Dubai Dubai
Guinness World Records has declared Dubai Metro as the
world's longest fully automated metro network spanning at 75 kilometres (47
mi).
According to statement by Adnan Al Hammadi, Chief Executive
of the Rail Agency and Transport Authority, Dubai Metro transported 33.3
million people in Q1 of 2013, a significant increase, compared to the same
period of the previous year.
Construction
Planning of the Dubai Metro began under the directive of
Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who expected other projects
to attract 15 million visitors to Dubai by 2010. The
combination of a rapidly growing population (expected to reach 3 million by
2017) and severe traffic congestion necessitated the building of an urban rail
system to provide additional public transportation capacity, relieve motor
traffic, and provide infrastructure for additional development.
Cost issues
The construction cost of the Dubai Metro project has shot up
by about 80 per cent from the original AED 15.5 billion/US$ 4.2 billion to AED
28 billion/US$ 7.8 billion. The authorities contradicted this, saying that the
cost of the project did not overshoot. They attributed the increase in expenditure
to the major changes in the scope and design of the project. The authorities
also expect to generate AED 18 billion/US$ 4.9 billion in income over the next
10 years; but they speculate that the Metro would not be a profit-making
enterprise, since the fares would be subsidised.
Delays
Work officially commenced on the construction of the metro
on 21 March 2006. In February 2009, a top RTA Rail Agency official said the US$
4.2 billion Dubai Metro project would be completed on schedule despite global crisis.
However only 10 out of 29 metro stations of the red line opened on 9 September
2009.
Construction of the 18 stations on the red line and another
18 on the green line restarted on 7 February 2010, according to contractors,
after a settlement was reached with a Japanese-led consortium over disputed
payments of about US$ 2 billion-US$ 3 billion. Construction of all 29 metro
stations on the Red Line was declared complete on 28 April 2010 by the acting chief
of the RTA Rail Agency.
Seven more stations on the Dubai Metro Red Line opened on 30
April 2010. Ten new trains were pressed into service, giving a total of 22
trains in service when the stations opened. The seven stations are, Emirates
Station, Airport Terminal 1 Station, Dubai Internet City (TECOM) Station, Al
Karama Station, Emirates Towers Station, Marina Station and Ibn Battuta
Station. In addition to this, a further three stations were opened on 15 May
2010; Al Quoz Station, GGICO Station and World Trade Center Station. Furthermore,
Business Bay Station, First Gulf Bank (Burj Al Arab/Gold and Diamond Park
Operation
The Dubai Metro is
operated by Serco under contract to the Dubai
Before launch, Dubai Municipality Public Transport
Department expected the metro to carry 1.2 million passengers on an average
day, 27,000 passengers per hour for each line, and 355 million passengers per
year once both lines are fully operational. It is planned to provide transport
for 12% of all trips in Dubai
One issue for the new system will be how to reliably and
comfortably get riders to their final destination if it is not located at a
metro station. The RTA has changed and added "feeder bus routes"
which act as shuttle services to and from major locations in and around the
station area. There are bus and taxi laybys constructed as well as drop off
zones at each station for ease of passenger access.
In addition 268 km of light rail lines are also planned,
these will serve as feeders to the Dubai
Lines
The first two lines of the Dubai Metro will have 70
kilometres (43 mi) of lines, and 47 stations (including nine underground
stations).
The Roads and Transport Authority's masterplan includes 421
kilometres (262 mi) of metro lines up to 2030 to cater to the expected above
4.1 million population of the city. There are plans for 268 kilometres (167 mi)
of light rail tracks to act as a feeder system for the Metro, although only the
Al Sufouh Tramway is under construction as of January 2013. The fate of this
entire network – which would reportedly be divided into Blue, Purple, Pink and
Gold lines – is now dependent on an economic recovery and private investment.
The Dubai Transport is divided into up to 4 tiers(5 zones).
As of the 2013 cheapest ticket(not preloaded, and not in the "gold"
class) with distance not more than 3 km cost 2.00 AED(about 0.54$) - equivalent
of Tier 0, and most costly single trip(Tier 3, exceed 2 zones, and paper not
preloaded ticket also) 6.50 AED(about 1.77$) and wasn't increased from opening.
This places Dubai Metro among the cheapest metro fares in the world. Tier 1 is
one zone trip, where the travel exceeds 3 km, Tier 2 is neighboring 2 zones
travel. Also(excluding Gold class) using cards there is "no more
paying" - a free rest of day travel if cost extend 14 AED(about 3.81$).
Proposed
In 2011, the RTA stated that there are no "immediate
plans" to build the Blue and Purple lines "in the next five or six
years".
In 2013, the RTA laid out a three phase plan to expand the
existing lines and build new ones: extending the Green Line by 12 stations and
24 kilometres (15 mi) to Academic City by 2020; expanding the overall system by
58 stations and 91 kilometres (57 mi) by 2025 and completing expansion with a
total of 69 stations and 221 km over and above the present 47 stations and 70
kilometres (43 mi) that are present as of January 2013.
- Purple Line along
-
Blue Line: along
-
Gold Line: Announced as the 'Yellow Line' in April 2008 and confirmed in January 2013 as the 'Gold Line'.
- Red Line
Extension: 15.5 kilometres (9.6 mi) and six new stations, terminating at the
border with
- Green
Line Extension: The line could be further extended by 11 km from Al
Jaddaf to
List of stations
Dubai Metro is composed of
at-grade (G) elevated Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 (T1, T2 and T3, respectively)
underground stations (U) and underground transfer station types (UT). Type 1 is
the regular at-grade concourse station, Type 2 is a regular elevated concourse
station, and Type 3 is an elevated special track station with an extra track to
hold a non operational train. Underground transfer stations will be
accommodating both the Red and Green lines for easy transfers.
Besides these differences, there
are four themes used in the interiors of the stations: earth, water, fire and
air. Earth stations have a tan-brown colour effects; water has blue-white
colour effects; fire has orange-red colour effects; and the air has green
colour effects.
- Red Line
- Rashidiya Station (Depot)
- Emirates Airlines Station
- Airport Terminal 3 Station – For all Emirates Flights
- Airport Terminal 1 Station – For all Non-Emirates Flights
- Al Garhoud Station (GGICO station)
- Al Rigga Station
- Union Station (Interchange, connecting with Green Line)
BurJuman Station (previously Khalid bin Al Waleed
Station; interchange, connecting with Green Line)
- Al Karama Station
- Al Jafiliya Station
- World Trade Centre Station
- Financial Centre Station
- Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall Station
- Noor Islamic Bank Station (Al Quoz)
- First Gulf Bank Station
- Mall of the Emirates Station
- Sharaf DG Station
- Nakheel Station
- Ibn Battuta Station
- Energy Station
- Jebel Ali / Jafza Station
The main depot for the trains
will be at Rashidiya just before the Rashidiya Station, while an auxiliary
depot is located at Jebel Ali Port.
- Green Line
- Etisalat Station (T3)
- Al Qusais 1 Station (T2)
- Al Nahda Station (T2)
- Stadium Station (T2)
- Al Quiadah Station (T2)
- Abu Hail Station (T2)
- Abu Baker Al Siddique Station (T2)
- Salah Al Din Station (U)
- Union Station (UT, connecting with Red Line)
- Palm Deira Station (U)
- Al Ras station (U)
- Al Ghubaiba Station (U)
- Saeediya Station (U)
BurJuman Station (UT, previously Khalid bin Al
Waleed Station; interchange, connecting with Red Line)
- Oud Metha Station (T2)
- Al Jedaf 1 Station (T2)
- Creek Station (T2)
The train depot is located at Al
Qusais just before the Al Qusais 2 Station.
Corporate branding
Officials are negotiating with
international and local companies over naming rights for 23 stations on the two
lines. This corporate branding is the first of its kind.
Trains
Japanese manufacturer Kinki
Sharyo built a total of 87 five-car trains for the Red and Green lines.They are
designed to carry 643 seated and standing passengers, and unusually for a mass
transit system, the trains have three classes of accommodation: Gold Class (first
class), Women and Children class, and regular Silver Class (economy). The first
train was delivered to Dubai in March 2008. The metro has driverless operation
and uses third rail current collection. Trained wardens accompany passengers to
help with emergencies.
Signaling
To permit fully automated
operation, Thales Rail Signalling Solutions is supplying its SelTrac IS
communications-based train control and NetTrac central control technology. This
is configured for a minimum headway of 90 sec. Maximum speed of the trains will
be 90 km/h, giving a round-trip time of 2 h 23 min for the Red Line and 1 h 23
min for the Green Line.
Red Line trains will initially
run every 7 minutes off-peak, with a minimum headway of 3 min 45 sec provided
during the peaks, when 44 trainsets will be in service. From 2010, when 51
trains will be in service, the line will have a peak-hour capacity of 11,675
passengers per hour in each direction. The theoretical maximum design capacity
is 25,720 passengers per hour, which would require 106 trains.
The Green Line will have an
initial capacity of 6,395 passengers per hour per direction, with 17 trains (train
registration numbers are 5046 to 5062) in service. The design capacity of this
route is put at 13,380 passengers per hour, with 60 trains in service.
Over 280,000 passengers used the
Dubai Metro during the first week of its operation.
Incidents and accidents
On 9 September 2009 (09-09-09), the
first day of operation, one metro train broke down and passengers were stranded
for two hours before being picked up by a second train.
On 28 February 2010, thousands of
commuters were affected after part of Dubai Metro's Red Line was closed after a
small fire on the track. A section of the Red Line between Al Jafiliya Station
near Za'abeel Park and Terminal 3 Station was shut at around 7pm and remained
closed until Monday morning. Trains were evacuated at Khalid Bin Waleed Station,
Union Square Station and Al Rigga Station. A Dubai Roads and Transport
Authority (RTA) spokesman confirmed there was smoke on the underground track
between Union Square
On 3 December 2012, the Dubai
Metro saw its first death when a man committed suicide by lying down on the
metro tracks and was run over by the automated train
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