It looks like a fking Dalek in that top picture.

The Train of Terror.

What a fantastic project it seems to be. Our city is absolutly gridlocked with traffic - smog and pollution, cojestion, frustration!

The upcoming prestigious Metro Project will present a new face of Dubai when its first phase is completed by September 2009, starting revenue generation.


In order to realise its vision of smooth transportation system within the emirate, the Government of Dubai created the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on November 1, 2005. The Dubai Metro is the flagship project of the RTA , with the total investment of approximately Dh15.5 billion (inclusive of the project management fees and utility diversions). The state-of-the-artengineering, technological challenges, visibility throughout the city, an architectural showpiece and direct role in providing social benefits are other features of the ambitious project.

In addition, it will be a catalyst for improving real estate value, economic development and urban regeneration along its main route and arteries. Dubai Metro will create employment opportunities for both the local population and the region.

Say the officials: “The Dubai Metro will be a watershed in the Arabian Peninsula as it will be the first Railway System of its kind in the region, hence there is a lot of excitement and support for it.”

As part of its modernity drive, vision and concerns for the environment, the Dubai Government commissioned studies to evaluate most efficient and cost-effective solution to combat traffic congestion and pollution, its by-product. The recommendation of these studies were the creation and development of a Metro for Dubai City.

Explains Abdul Majid Abdul Razzaq Al Khaja, CEO Rail Agency, “The aim of the Metro System is to provide an alternative mode of transport to ease congestion, save travelling time, reduce traffic pollution, improve mobility within the city, provide connection to Dubai International Airport, and deliver modern, comfortable and reliable services to the Metro users.”

Initial studies for developing a metro system started back in 1997 with a feasibility study known as R7100. The study was completed during 1997-2000 with the conclusion that Dubai could not rely solely on Roads Transport Systems to meet its future traffic demands. Between 2000-2002, a follow-up planning study was commissioned under the title of PS002 - Dubai Transit Options Study whereby the initial R700 findings were refined and an initial design concept for a main rail corridor and a Central Business District (CBD) circular were developed with basic design drawings and routes defined.

During the period of 2002-2004, a more detailed planning study known as PS007 was commissioned whereby the Dubai Metro team prepared the preliminary engineering design concepts, technical specifications and tender documentations for a design and build contract based on FIDIC framework and the work was tendered in the marketplace in October 2004.

In July 2005, a design and build contract was awarded to a consortium known as Dubai Rail Link (DURL) that is made up of Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, Obayashi Corporation, Kajima Corporation and Yapi Markezi of turkey.

FAST FACTS ABOUT THE PROJECT
Dubai Metro will be a world-class, fully automated, driverless railway system. The new Metro will be constructed and delivered in two stages, Red Line (Stage 1) and the Green Line (Stage 2).

In the congested central areas of the city, the Metro lines will be built mainly underground, which will constitute the majority of the Green Line, whereas the Red Line will span along Shaikh Zayed Road, on a viaduct. Around 9,000 workers will be involved in the Dubai Metro project construction work from January 2007.

RED LINE
The Red Line Phase 1, is planned to be completed and to start generating revenue by 09/09/2009

Route covers the area between Rashidiya to Jebel Ali

Length of the Line is approximately 52km

The majority of the line is elevated, except between Port Saeed and Burjuman, where the line is constructed underground

There are 23 elevated stations, one at-grade station and four underground stations planned

Estimated journey duration from one end of the line to the other will be 64 minutes

GREEN LINE
The Green Line Phase 2, planned to be completed and start generating revenue prior to the date of March 9, 2010. The contract is worth Dh5.7 billion.

Route covers the area between Al Nahda Street to Health Care City

The total length of the line is around 17.6km

The route is made up of 10km elevated section comprising eight stations, and 6.7km underground section including five stations — excluding Union Square and Burjuman (Red Line) Interchange Stations

Estimated journey time from start to finish of the Line is approximately 26 minutes

THE PURPLE AND BLUE LINES
Some 96 kilometres will be added to the Dubai Metro network, with the addition of Purple and Blue railway lines

Two new lines will be added to the existing Red and Green Lines — the 49-km long Purple Line and an approximately 47km-long Blue Line

The 49km-long Purple Line also known as the Express Line — will link Dubai International Airport with Jebel Ali Airport. It will have eight stations and will be operational by 2012 — two years after the completion of the Red and the Green Lines. In total, Dubai will have 318km of metro lines by 2020 as some more tracks will be added gradually with the development of the city

Adnan Al Hammadi, Director of Construction Department, Rail Agency, said that the Purple Line is in the bidding stage now

The RTA officials say that the authority aims to ensure that Dubai Metro is designed to achieve an overall transportation solution taking into consideration other important modes of transport (e.g. buses, taxis and abra). The aim of the transport integration is to complement these other modes of transport and incorporate strategic bus/boat feeder points with flexible and user-friendly metro interchange stations

I was wondering does anyone think that the metro project only caters to a certain group of people, excluding certain social classes?

The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has signed an agreement with the international consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff to carry out consultancy services including the initial designs of the Dubai Metro Purple Line.

This will link Dubai International Airport with Jebel Ali International Airport, a distance of about 49 kilometers.

The project has an estimated cost of ten billion dirhams (AED 10 billion) and is in line with the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to link the major urban projects with a developed network of various transportation systems, being followed-up by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, President of the Executive Council of Dubai.

The agreement was signed today by Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of Roads & Transport Authority, and Stuart Wallace, Managing Director of Parsons Brinckerhoff Middle East.

The Metro on the Purple Line will be automatically operated, driverless and provide a safe service environment. It will introduce a state-of-the-art rail technology with air-conditioning in stations and metro carriages in a way compatible with the prevailing climate in Dubai urban area. All metros will be operated in accordance with an integrated metro system that paves the way for enhancing control and fine tuning of trip timings. Metro stations will be designed in an innovative and outstanding architectural style and will be fitted with the latest safety and security aspects.

Parking spaces will be provided for private cars and buses in each station.

Dubai - People who travel on the Dubai Metro to the airport will be able to check-in their luggage and receive their boarding cards at some stations, the Road and Transport Authority (RTA) announced yesterday. At the same time, the RTA also revealed that the Metro’s Purple Line will be a express service between Dubai International Airport and Jebel Ali International Airport consisting of eight stations.

The trains travelling between the two airports will move at an average of 100kph. “Three of these stations include facilities for checking-in for the two airports. Passengers will be able to bring their personal effects, check-in and obtain plane boarding passes through the airlines counters in the designated three metro stations. Accordingly, passengers will be able to proceed directly to the airports,” Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, said.
The project will commence building from March 2009 and services on the Purple Line are scheduled to begin in December 2012 Al Tayer added.

DUBAI — The Dubai Metro has adopted the state-of-the-art Automatic Train Control (ATC) System named Seltrac S40. The system uses the moving block principle in a communications-based train control environment.


Adnan Al Hammadi, Director of Construction, Rail Agency, said, “The Automated Driverless System is completely safe and reliable. Safe separation behind the preceding train is dynamically calculated based on the maximum operating speeds, braking curves and locations of the trains on the guideway. Because of the high resolution of position, the following train may safely approach a safe braking distance from the last verified position of the rear of a preceding train, based on the maximum allowed speed in that section of the guideway. In many applications, a significant reduction in headway relative to fixed block systems is possible, since the train need not be stopped at the entrance to an occupied fixed block.”

“Unlike the traditional signalling systems, the primary design goal of a moving block system is to provide greater capacity and reduced train separation distance through improved position resolution and movement authority updating rate. Energy efficiency effects can be achieved through general optimisation of driving style and traffic flows,” he added.

The ATC helps reduce human resources expenditure and improves safety.

A safe braking model has been created for the entire guideway. From this, a ‘safety distance’ is determined and the wayside vital sub-system will ensure that it is always maintained between trains. This ‘safety distance’ is a fixed distance between the commanded stopping point of the following train and an obstacle which may be the confirmed position of the rear of the preceding train. This distance is selected to allow for a series of worst-case conditions to exist and still ensure that fail-safe separation is maintained.

Vital supervision of safe train separation is implemented by providing information on the maximum allowable train speed and the current stopping point to the on-board sub-system. A real-time communication is updated cyclically to ensure that continuous updates are available to the train. The train, therefore, can safely operate within the envelope defined by the maximum speed, the confirmed stopping point, the braking curve and track grading.

Currently the ATC system is in its last stages of design. Testing of some hardware equipment will begin in July. During operation, the ATC system will be continuously interfacing with many different systems, namely the Rolling Stock, the Power Supply, the Platform Screen Doors, the Operation Control Systems, among others

Dubai: Demand for real estate near Dubai Metro stations is heating up in response to the rapid physical emergence of the RTA's Dh15.5 billion project, say property consultants and agencies.

Companies and residents on the hunt for real estate are increasingly prioritising locations near metro stations and are willing to pay a premium to avoid congested roads and tolls.

Meanwhile, landlords and real estate developers are responding by heavily marketing links between their properties and the first phase of the metro, which will follow a route along Shaikh Zayed Road and is scheduled to open in September 2009. The second phase will be built mostly underground and should open in March 2010.

The trend means Dubai's future property hot spots will be dictated by proximity to the metro, says Craig Johnson, general manager at real estate consultancy Landmark Properties.

"We have witnessed a huge surge in interest from prospective investors regarding the metro. Proximity to a metro stop has become a leading strategy for investors looking to maximise appreciation on their investments," he said, without specifying expected appreciation rates.

"Significantly, a number of reputable investment funds who are considered particularly astute in the market are targeting property located close to metro stations."

Peter Penhall, CEO of Dubai-based realty portal Gowealthy.com, said it is hard to estimate appreciation levels or premiums for property near stations, but said it will have a greater chance of holding its value should the market dip.

Recent trend

The seeds for the project were sown 10 years ago when a feasibility study concluded that Dubai could no longer rely on road networks to cater to escalating traffic.

But investor interest in land near the metro has only recently picked up in response to the physical emergence of train lines and station locations, said Ryan Mahoney, managing director at Dubai-based real estate agency Better Homes. "People are realising that the metro is not just a pipedream. Construction work is happening quicker than they had anticipated."

He said prices should appreciate for non-luxury property within walking distance of stations, but said it is unlikely that Dubai's future demographics will change as the project is being built along existing road arteries.

The majority of investor interest so far has been for commercial real estate, he added. "Business owners are thinking about how their mid-level staff will be able to commute to the office, especially as congestion and tolls are considered barriers to road use."

Retail real estate in and around stations will also be attractive to investors because of the guaranteed high shopper footfall that a metro station can provide, said Penhall.

It remains uncertain how close a property must be to a station to command a premium. In cities with moderate climates the distance is up to 400 metres, but in Dubai it will be nearer 100 metres, said Mahoney.

Dubai: The daily run time for the Dubai Metro will be from 5am to 12.30am - about 19 hours and 30 minutes every day, said a senior official.

Passengers will not be able to ride trains at night from 12.30am to 5am. The first train will start at 5am and the operation will be suspended soon after midnight at 12.30am.

"Break is necessary for maintenance of trains and safe operation," said Engineer Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Dubai Roads and Transport Agency.

Each train will stop at every station and dwell time [time for each stop] will vary according to the ridership (commuter count) of each station. However, stopping time at each station will be between 20 and 30 seconds.

Total trip time from Al Rashidiya to Jebel Ali Port on the Red Line - 52.1 km long will be 60 to 63 minutes. This will be under all conditions regardless of traffic jams and weather conditions. Runtime for the Green Line is not yet known. The average train speed will be 110 km per hour.

Earlier, Al Tayer, who held a meeting with a delegation from Singapore led by Delib Nayr, Consul General of Singapore in Dubai, briefed the delegation about Dubai Metro and the public transport system being adopted in Dubai.

The delegation also gave a presentation about operation of metro in Singapore and offered to cooperate with the RTA on its metro and public bus transport project.

Red Line work

The Dh15.5 billion metro project was launched in October 2005 and it is the world's largest system, which will use fully automated and driverless trains.

Currently, major work is under way on the 52.1 km Red Line between Jebel Ali Port and Al Rashidiya.

Once completed, some 87 trains will initially run on Red and Green Lines with a total length of 74.6 km. A fully functional metro system will be able to carry about 1.8 million passengers every working day.

"The aims of the Metro are to provide an alternative mode of transport to ease congestion, save passengers' travelling time and improve mobility within the city.

"It is intended to provide transport coverage and reach all strategic areas of the city and develop the network to branch out into the suburbs with future extensions," said Al Tayer.

Manufacturing of Dubai Metro trains on schedule

The Rail Agency from the Roads and Transport Authority announced that the manufacturing of rolling stock (trains) for the Dubai Metro is well on schedule.

Adnan Hammadi, Director of Construction, Rail Agency, said: "As scheduled, With five cars, 3 motor cars and 2 trailer cars, each train will be approximately 85 metres long, 2.78 metres wide and 3.86 metres high. The car body for the 1st train and its respective bogies had been fabricated, while the car-body and bogies for the 2nd train will be completed in a week's time. They will then undergo painting, followed up by internal fittings (e.g. doors, windows, electrical wiring, piping, ducting, sound proofing material, heat insulation etc.) in the assembly line. The overall manufacturing of trains is on schedule and the 1st train is envisaged to be delivered to Dubai in Mar'08."

"The train equipment tests activities had commenced in beginning of June'07 at their respective suppliers' premises mainly in Japan as well as in France and Germany. These tests are carried out in order to ensure that the train and its equipments are compliant to the project specification and international best practices, as well as that they are fit for local environmental conditions. These suppliers are well-known internationally for their railway products. Some of the main equipment tests in Japan will be witnessed by RTA and RTA representatives in end of June'07", he added.

The completion of the first train manufacturing will be ready by October 2007 after which the train will be delivered to Dubai for testing and commissioning starting in March 2008. The sub systems fitted into each train are from various international reputed suppliers like Kinki Sharyo, Mitsubishi Electric, and Alcatel to name a few. Altogether 44 sets will be delivered for the Red Line on time to commence revenue service in September 2009.

Hammadi added that the fabrication of the car-body parts and outfitting of equipment would be assembled in Japan at Kinki Sharyo's manufacturing facility in Osaka.

I was hoping Dubai would do something like this!

Fantastic!

:D

Dubai Metro on schedule
DUBAI: The second phase of the Dubai Metro project, known as the Green Line, is making substantial progress with 11 per cent of the work completed.

The line has six stations underground and 12 elevated stations and is designed to pass through the central business districts of Dubai which has resulted in road diversions.

The northern and southern section of the line is progressing as planned with the piling works in progress at Al Qusais 2 station and commencement of Diaphragm walls in Salahuddin and Palm Deira.

"At Gubaiba underground station, post the completion of the construction of the diaphragm wall, two of the five roof slabs have been completed and works in progress for the remaining panels that is scheduled to be completed by mid-November," said Rail Construction Department director Adnan Al Hammadi.

"Al Ras Station diaphragm wall construction is also completed and the last phase of the second stage for traffic diversions at Sayeediya is completed," he added.

The diaphragm wall for the cut and cover section from Burjuman to Oud Metha is completed and work is soon to commence on excavation and strutting to facilitate the construction of roof slabs. Road diversions works will be completed shortly around Al Seef and Tariq Bin Zayed Road.

Traffic diversions are scheduled to commence next month in Oud Metha while in Al Jadaff 2 Station piling works has already started and progressing well as scheduled.

The Green Line will run from Al Ittihad Square through Deira and Bur Dubai to Burjuman, through Health Care City to Jadaff in the South, and from Al Ittihad Square through the intersection of Al Nahda and Damascus Road to Al Qiyadah intersection toward Al Qusais Area.

Dubai Metro 'will cut traffic by 17%'

ON TRACK: RTA chiefs say the Metro will be completed on time and will reduce traffic by 17%. (Getty Images)The daily grind of traffic jams in Dubai will be eased by the opening of the city's Metro, with transport officials claiming it will reduce vehicle movements by 17 percent each day.

Fears of any delay to construction of the 15.5 billion dirham ($4.21bn) project have been allayed by the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) which said on Wednesday it was still on target to open the first line of the network in September 2009.

It said it was confident the system would encourage less use of private vehicles, leading to a reduction in noise and pollution in the city.

Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, RTA chairman and executive director, said the Metro was key to RTA’s goal to create a state-of-the-art safe, efficient and environmentally-friendly integrated transport infrastructure.

Al Tayer told Arabian Business: “As Dubai grows at an astounding pace, commuters must be provided with excellent public transport alternatives, as a comprehensive and widely-used public transport system will relieve pressure on roads and eliminate logjams.

“This will help facilitate the future business requirements of the city. A lot of time will be saved connecting the main business hubs and it will generate employment for a large number of people in the region.”

Testing of six more trains the project has taken delivery of from Japan is due to start on a 14km track between Ibn Battuta Mall and the Jebel Ali Industrial Stations by the end of August after a successful two-month trial run on two that arrived in March.

As many as 90 percent of the total 1,300 spans on the Red Line, the first phase of the network, have been erected to date, with 10 launching gantries working, the Rail Agency of the RTA said this week.

Adnan Al Hammadi, director of construction at rail projects, said from August the project aimed to complete the construction of all viaduct spans across the Red Line followed by the coating and hand rails installation in December.

Stretching 52 kilometres and taking in 29 stations, the RTA says construction of the Red Line remains on course to enable it to start operation on September 9, 2009.

Snaking its way from the Rashidiya through central Dubai and along the Sheikh Zayed highway, the line will serve key destinations including Dubai International Airport, Internet City, Burj Dubai, Dubai International Financial City, Emirates Towers, the World Trade Centre and Al Ittihad Square, before reaching Jebel Ali on the outskirts of the city.

Serving 18 stations over a 23km length, the Green Line, which will require the erection of a further 500 spans, will start transporting passengers on March 21, 2010.

Focusing on two of Dubai’s most densely populated areas - Deira and Bur Dubai - the Green Line will take in Al Ittihad Square, Burjuman, Health Care City, Jadaff, the intersection of Al Nahda and Damascus Road, and the Al Qiyadah intersection toward Al-Qusais.

Sixty-one trains are scheduled to arrive in Dubai by 2010, 44 for the Red Line and 17 for the Green Line, with each train holding a seating capacity of 643 but able to carry up to 1,150 passengers.

The RTA says the driverless service will operate on average every three minutes and 43 seconds.

Every station will have bus stops and taxi stands, with a 'contactless smart card' system allowing commuters to switch over from one mode of transport to the other for a single fare.