By Ashfaq Ahmed, Chief Reporter www.gulfnews.com
Dubai: More 50,0000 workers living in the labour accommodation will benefit from the Energy Station and the Jebel Ali Industrial Station on the Red Line of the Dubai Metro.
With the launching of the metro, these workers will no more be living in isolation away from the city as they can take the metro and come to the shopping malls, cinemas and parks in the city without depending on their company buses and expensive taxis.
Apart from catering to the labour accommodations, the Energy Metro Station will also provide access to thousands of employees working at the Dubai Aluminum Company Lt (Dubal). The station was earlier called Dubal Station but recently was renamed as Energy Station due to its proximity to the Dubai Electricity and Power Authority plants. Dubal is Dubai’s industrial flagship and the largest single site aluminium smelter in the world. It was established in 1979 and over the years it has transformed into a global aluminium producer, generating a total volume of approximately 890,000 metric tonnes of quality hot metal in 2008.
These stations will also bring a great relief for thousands of employees who have to travel from Sharjah and Dubai city to offices and industries in the Jebel Ali Industrial area as they can avoid traffic congestion on Shaikh Zayed Road by using the metro.
Both the stations, will, however, be opened by February next year.
Both the stations will be served by feeder buses to help carry passengers to and from nearby areas.
Feeder bus number F51 will link the Energy Metro Station to Dewa Station and the service will be operated every 10 minutes.
Bus number F47 will carry passengers from the Jebel Ali Industrial Station to the Jebel Ali Industrial Area, which has hundreds of companies and factories.
The Energy Station will be the most convenient station for those going to churches near Jebel Ali Village.
The Church compound houses St Francis Assissi Church, Dubai Evangelical Church, Catholic Church and Christ Church. A Sikh Gurudwara is also located in the same premises.