Sunday 20 January 2008

Scary Dubai Metro System?

Dubai has a traffic problem. Everybody who lives here can see this daily, especially now during Ramadan.
Some people say this is normal in such a fast growing city like Dubai, others say it’s because of the reckless Dubai drivers. Some say the government of Dubai is responsible and there is no proper traffic planning. Whatever the cause is, it’s not going to be solved so easily. The Dubai government has a long-term plan which includes traffic planning. Part of this plan is the Dubai Metro System.
Dubai Metro 1 - Dubaiinformer
Construction work has already started, which ironically makes the traffic worse ;-)

The Dubai Metro System will have modern trains with full air-condition and all stations will be air-conditioned too (underground an elevated stations). Each 5 car train will be 75m long. There will be standard class, women and children only sections, and of course an exclusive first class section. All sections will feature high tech passenger information systems. The Dubai Metro System will be fully integrated in the public transport network of Dubai.

No need to be scared, even if you know that the Dubai Metro will be driverless. High standard safety features will make sure that everything goes smoothly. The system would allow trains to run at every one and a half minutes without any trouble.
Dubai Metro 5 - Dubaiinformer
The cars have huge windows for the best views of our lovely city from the slightly higher perspective (hopefully the ride will take long enough to see everything). The whole system will run with electrical energy, which makes it environmentally friendly.

The Dubai Metro System will have four lines.
The red line will run from Salahuddin Road (next to Al Ghurair Center) to the American University of Dubai, passing by Burjuman Center and Sheikh Zayed Road.
Dubai Metro 4 - DubaiinformerDubai Metro 6 - Dubaiinformer
This line will be extended later to Jebel Ali Port and to the intersection of Al Nahda and Damascus road.
The green line starts from Al Ittihad square (next to Dubai Municipality) to the Rashidiya bus station, passing by Deira City Center and the Airport terminals 1 to 3. Later on the green line will be extended into Deira and Bur Dubai.
The blue line runs on Emirates road and will connect the Dubai International Airport and Jebel Ali Airport.
The purple line will also connect these 2 Airports, but acts as an express line, serving new communities along Al Khail Road. All four lines will cover roughly 320 km (by 2020).

The first two lines alone will have more than 60 stations,
Dubai Metro 2 - Dubaiinformer
18 km of tunnels, 51 km of viaduct, one major train depot and maintenance facilities site and several auxiliary stabling facilities. The total fleet size will exceed 100 trains. In the city center the lines will run underground, outside the Dubai Metro System will be elevated.
Dubai Metro 3 - Dubaiinformer
Once finished (first phase in 2009), the Dubai Metro System will be the most advanced urban rail system. Investment costs for the full Dubai Metro System will reach more than 14 billion AED. The operating costs are calculated to be approximately 570 million AED per year. And eventually we wil have no traffic problems anymore here in Dubai ;-)