UAE. Dubai Metro was launched as planned on Wednesday night, marking a historical day for the city. The opening of the 52km Dubai Metro Red Line, which was broadcast live on television, began with a reception attended by hundreds at the Mall of the Emirates Galleria.

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai punched in the first ticket exactly at 9pm, 9 minutes and 9 seconds, marking the official inauguration of the first metro system in the Gulf region.

Sheikh Mohammed along with VIPs and members of the media boarded the train which left the station at 9.11pm.

The Metro project has gone through a massive 50%-55% changes in terms of its design and new stations and facilities since its inception to cope with the growing needs of the city.

The cost of the Red and Green Lines has risen from the original budget ofAED15.5 billion to more than AED28 (US$7.6 billion) as a result of additions and extensions to the project

It is expected to generate revenues in excess of AED17 billion (US$4.63 billion) over the next 10 years, the chairman of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Mattar al-Tayer said. The income will come from fares, advertising, retail rents and station naming.

The metro was launched with 10 stations operational out of 29. All 29 stations on the metros 52 km Red Line were initially meant to open on 9 September, but delays meant only a third were ready in time with the rest coming online before February next year.

Al Tayer said the Red Line had been built in just 49 months. The other 19 stations which will not be opened until later including ones at Jebel Ali and the Dubai Mall are 90% complete. Sheikh Mohammed said the new system, the first in the country, would help the UAE stand on par with other countries.

He also used it as an example of the financial resiliance of the emirate, in the wake of last years economic downturn.

We have postponed some of the projects that were still on paper, but we ordered that those in operation be completed, and Dubai Metro is a concrete proof of that, said Sheikh Mohammed.

Source:  www.youtube.com

Construction of all the Metro’s red line stations will be completed by April 25.But many will only open some “months” after that date. Why?

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced on Saturday that work on all the remaining 18 stations on the Dubai Metro’s Red Line will be complete by April 25 2010.

However, the actual opening of the stations will be staggered in phases. The Emirates, Airport Terminal 1, GGICO, Al Karama, World Trade Center, Marina, and Ibn Battuta stations will open on April 25 – but the remaining 11 stations “will be operated over the following months of 2010,” Mattar al-Tayer, the chairman and executive director of RTA said in a release.

The stations to be opened were selected on the basis of “availability of population density in the locality served by each station… availability of commercial activities in the area served by each station, availability of government activities in the vicinity of each station, the station integration with other transport modes… and the projected number of commuters at each station,” according to al-Tayer.

Kipp doesn’t understand why things in Dubai can’t ‘fully’ open when they are supposed to. If all the stations on the Red Line are set to be ready in April, then why not open all of them? The Metro has been running for close to six months now, and most of the operational problems on the trains have been sorted out.  So why should the stations only open in phases?

The Dubai government is struggling to persuade residents to use public transport, and recently, the Dubai Municipality even tried to enforce a car-free day as an environmentally friendly initiative. But how will people use the Metro if the stations close to their homes/offices are not even open?

The RTA’s criteria include availability of population and commercial activities in the vicinity of the station. Based on that, shouldn’t the Dubai Internet City station as well the Jebel Ali stations be opening? Unless, of course, they will not be ready – and the RTA just doesn’t want to acknowledge that.

Work has resumed on the Dubai Metro after a settlement was reached with a Japanese-led consortium over unpaid bills that total billions of dollars, the Financial Times reported, citing two sources familiar with the situation.

Dubai metro

An agreement has been reached between Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and the consortium, which includes Obayashi, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi and Kajima and a Turkish firm, over disputed payments of about $2-3bn, the paper said.

The consortium received roughly $5.3bn worth of orders to build the metro, with the work starting in 2005. But the actual construction expenses are expected to total almost twice as much, sparking disputes between the two parties over who would fund the added costs.

The group had slowed work on the Metro in January, in a bid to strengthen their hand in negotiations with the government agency.

Construction of the 18 unfinished stations on the main red line and another 18 on the unopened green line restarted on February 7, the paper said, and there is optimism that the whole red line may be able to open in the next few months.

The 52kn Red Line, which runs between Al-Rashidiya and Jebel Ali, launched on September 9 with just 10 of its 29 stations open.

The remaining 19 stations were scheduled to open this month. Only the Dubai Mall station has, to date, met this deadline.

The 22.5km Green Line, which spans 18 stations between Deira and Bur Dubai, remains under construction.

In January, an official from Obayashi Corp, which is working on both the Green and Red lines told Arabian Business the delay in construction work was a deliberate tactic.

“We have been in negotiations for a long time. The slowdown is part of the strategy,” the official said.

The full opening of the remaining stations of Dubai Metro’s Red Line has been delayed by two months, a top official told 7DAYS.

Abdul Majeed Al Khaja, CEO of the rail agency said it had granted an extension  for the contractors until April to complete the work.

The stations had been due to open next month.

“Contractors have asked for an extension and we have given them until April to complete the work,” Khaja said. It was not clear if all stations would be delayed.

One irate commuter said: “If they don’t open the metro in February I don’t know what I will do because I just got rid of my rental car, ready for the opening of the stations near my home and work.

“They should just open the stations that they have ready and get on with it.”

Contractors involved in the project refused to comment when contacted by 7DAYS and there was no one available from the Roads and transport Authority for further comment.

Meanwhile, the Dubai Government has approved a 2010 RTA budget of dhs10.7 billion to be used for infrastructure projects.

Dubai : Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), has announced the opening of the Burj Dubai tomorrow will coincide with the opening of the Burj Dubai Metro station.

According to Mattar Al Tayer, the Burj Dubai Metro station is expected to carry 10,000 passengers on weekdays. Image Credit: Supplied picture

From tomorrow the RTA will officially operate the Burj Dubai Metro station to mark the fourth anniversary of the accession of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as Ruler of Dubai and the opening of the world’s tallest tower.

The Burj Dubai station is elevated with the concourse and platform situated at a higher level than the elevated Metro track. The station, 132 metres long and 29 metres wide. has a capacity to handle 11,000 passengers per hour per direction and has two entry points fitted with escalators and lifts.

The station is expected to be used by about 10,000 passengers a day on weekdays and rise on weekends and holidays to 19,000, according to Al Tayer.

Easy access

The Burj Dubai station will mainly serve the Downtown Burj Dubai district which spans an area of 45 million square feet. It encompasses residential, commercial, and recreational units, including the Burj Dubai, Dubai Mall, 30,000 residential units, nine hotels, 19 residential towers, and a boulevard which spans 3.5 kilometres in length. Residents living on the other side of the road in Jumeirah 2 will also have easy access to the station.

To feed the station, RTA has deployed 11 buses operating on two routes. Six buses will operate on Route F13 at a 10-minute interval linking Burj Dubai station with Burj Dubai area; which includes Dubai Mall, The Palace and The Address hotels, The Boulevard and other locations in the area.

Route F16 has five buses operating at 10-minute intervals to link the Burj Dubai station with Jumeirah 2. Buses start at the station and pass at Mazaya Centre, Al Wasl and Al Uruba Road before heading back to the Metro.

Operations on Dubai Metro’s Green Line will begin in the second half of 2010, the chairman of the Roads and Transport Authority has announced.

Dubai metro

Mattar Al Tayer, also executive director of the RTA, said that stations on the second line of the rail system were currently between 50-80 percent complete.

He emphasised that the project was running on schedule, with the first trains operating in H2 2010.

Al Tayer made the announcement during a tour made to inspect the work progress on some of the 20 Green Line stations, of which six will be underground.

The Green line is the second line of the Dubai Metro and will be a 22.5km line comprising 40 trains that will run from Dubai Airport Free Zone to Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) through Saeediya and comprises two interchange stations with the Red Line, at Union Square and Burjuman.

A car park for 6,000 cars will be constructed at Al Qusais Depot.

The RTA is also thought to be considering extending the Green Line from the Academic City to the International City.

In a statement, Al Tayer expressed his delight with the progress being made and “commended the efforts of all personnel working tirelessly to complete the project”.

A few days ago, i was in Dubai. And i had the unique oppurtunity of riding the Dubai Metro on the first day, first night. This is the video of my journey..
The first song is
Breakeven (instrumental) by The Script,
and the second song is
Talk you Down(Instrumental) by The Script (again)…
It took me half a day so
Enjoy =)
Discussions are fine, I’m open to any positive discussions.. Thanks for watching.Please leave a few comments after watching thank you…

Note: this is the first trip during night, NOT the first trip

Dubai: Dubai Metro commuters will soon be able to get their personalised Nol Blue Cards with their photographs on it, said a senior official.

Users of the Blue Card will also be able to track their transactions online. Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan/Gulf News

“The Nol Blue Cards, which will be launched in a few weeks, are personalised cards aimed at protecting the users from any misuse of their Metro fare cards,” said Abdullah Al Madani, Chief Executive Officer of the Corporate Technical Support Services at the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

He said the blue card will not only have picture of the cardholder but also contain his personal details and no one else would be able to use the card.

Online application

The online application service to the Blue Card will be launched in November.

The first Nol Blue Card was issued to His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai on the day of inauguration of the Dubai Metro on September 9.

Customers will also be able to apply for the card at the RTA customer service centres and ticket offices at the Metro stations.

The cards will be delivered to the applicants by courier. Users of the Blue Card will also be able to track their transactions online.

Al Madani said that a number of companies have already requested the RTA to provide the Blue Cards for their employees and the RTA is working on their requests.

Top up facilities

He said that online top up facilities for the Nol Silver and the Nol Gold Cards would also be available online in the first quarter of the next year.

Currently, commuters can top up their cards only at the Metro station ticket offices, ticket vending machines, RTA’s customer service centre and selected outlets.

These cards have e-purse of up to Dh500.

Al Madani said that special discount fare cards for students, elderly and people with special needs would be issued from the second quarter of next year whereas the monthly Nol passes will also be available in the second quarter of the next year when the Metro will be fully operational.

Al Madani said that the RTA is focused on providing its services online to facilitate its customers.

“RTA has about 140 e-services on offer through various electronic channels as well as its portal [www.rta.ae],” he said.

The Dubai Metro transported 367,000 passengers during its first week in operation, and crossed the one million mark by the end of its first 15 days. But despite its popularity, the system has been facing constant problems; overcrowded stations, platform doors not opening, and frequent delays.

Although the ticket process is quite simple, several passengers were confused with the card system. And in the first week, the train even skipped stopping at some of the stations because, apparently, they were too crowded.

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has blamed inexperienced passengers for causing many of the problems. They said that some of the passengers on the train pushed the emergency button, which made the trains stop and led to unnecessary delays.

Around 20 percent of our respondents also agree, saying that trains are overloaded with inexperienced passengers. With most of the stations not open as yet, commuters are using the metro for joyrides and not out of necessity. And the Dubai Metro being the first of its kind in the region, it is a new experience for many people. It has even become a vital part of the itinerary for tourists.

But 27 percent of our respondents blame the RTA for the problems; according to them, all these issues should have been resolved before the metro was launched. The trains did go on several trail runs, but, looks like, the glitches which the metro is currently facing now were not encountered.

However, the metro has only been running for a month, and the majority our poll respondents – 45 percent – believe that the issues will settle down in a month or two.

 While Kipp agrees that these issues may only be teething problems, we are still wondering how some of the other more permanent problems will get resolved; for instance, the fact that there are only two access machines at one of the metro’s most popular stops – the Mall of The Emirates station. How are they going to deal with the serpentine queues during rush hour?

But it seems that questions like that are not bothering some people; 8 percent of our respondents are still wondering what problems we are talking about.