Dubai gets a Metro

Jun 25, 2008

Dubai will soon have its metro/tram. The ABS consortium (Alstom, Besix and Sercoa), has signed with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authorities (RTA) a 550 million dollars contract for the first phase of the tram that will connect Al Safooh to Dubai. Alstom will receive 300 million dollars for this phase. It will use an APS system (without catenary), which preserves the urban setting and fits in perfectly with the modernity of the city of Dubai.

This project should be in service by 2011. It will start with a 20 km long track, 13 stations and 11 vehicles. Phase 2 plans to add 14 new vehicles, as well as 4 km of track and 6 stations.

Dubai will be the first arab country with such a high-tech tram.

The metro stations Al Safooh will be equipped with an automated doors system specially designed to allow air conditioning platforms and ensure an optimal thermal comfort for passengers. This equipment is world premier for an open site tram.

It is clear dubai is searching for a new image of it’s transport facilities. Until now, most displacements have been done by cars. The city has been developping an amazing road structure for the past few years, and although it is a fast and reliable mean of transport, it creates heavy pollution, needs large parkings and sooner or later, roads get congestioned.

This multimodality approach of transports has already been seen in many of the modern european cities for a few decades, and it is therefore normal that Dubai (which takes what’s best from everywhere) follows the trend.

Here is a map of how the line might be:

Update: In the future, the metro will use the new tallest bridge in the world (see post).