By Elizabeth Broomhall www.constructionweekonline.com
Dubai metro’s Green Line will open to the public in August 2011, according to a senior RTA official.
In an interview with Construction Week, Abdul Younes, the RTA’s CEO for strategy and corporate governance, said construction of the line had been subject to delays due to changes to the original contract.
He added that the RTA expected a substantial increase in passenger numbers following the opening, due to the line’s route through some of the most densely populated areas of the city.
“The Green Line will be completed in August of this year,” said Younes.
“One construction contract was awarded for the Green Line and the Red Line at end of 2005. The contract was extended because we added 4-6km of line and extra stations – four to the Green Line and two to the Red Line,” Younnes said.
He added, “We have had a lot more passengers than we expected on the metro. By opening the Green Line, we expect the number of passengers to increase even higher, because it goes through very popular areas of Dubai.”
The Green Line is the second line of the Dubai Metro network, which was officially opened in September 2009. On the completion, the Green Line will have 18 stations spanning 22.5 km, and will run through heavily populated areas such as Deira and Bur Dubai.
Of the 18 stations on the Green Line, 12 are to be elevated and six will be underground stations.
The line is expected to handle as many as 22,000 passengers per hour.
