Dubai: Two airport metro stations built quite close to each other on the Red Line will serve hundreds of thousands of passengers and employees every day.
One of the Metro stations will serve passengers at the Terminal 1 while the other one will cater to commuters at the Terminal 3 which was opened later last year.
The distance between the two stations is about 700 metres. Airport passengers can use these stations to directly access the terminal buildings without having to endure the heat outside.
Air-conditioned walkways equipped with escalators and elevators have been built to link the arrival and departures lounges of the terminal buildings with the stations.
More than 100,000 passengers use the Dubai airport every day while the number of passengers stood at 37.44 million last year.Apart from passengers, thousands of employees from various private and public departments and companies will have easy access to the airport if they use the Metro.
The Metro link to the airport will provide a huge relief for passengers especially on arrivals as they can save a lot of money on expensive taxi fare.
Airport taxis charge Dh20 as starting fare in addition to the fare for the distance covered. The maximum metro fare ranges from the minimum Dh1.8 charge to Dh6.5 for a single journey.
Also visitors to the airport can save a lot of money on hefty parking fees. The minimum charge for parking at Terminal 3 is Dh10 for 30 minutes. Long term parking at Terminal 1 costs at least Dh5 for 30 minutes.
A Dubai International Airport spokesperson said: “Dubai Airports is working very closely with the RTA to ensure a smooth Metro start-up in terms of its integration with airport operational processes and facilities.
“To that end we have successfully completed the Terminal 3 Metro Ticketing Concourse and Station. The Ticketing Concourse is located underneath the main Terminal three-roof canopy on the departures level and is connected to the station via link bridges.”
The Red Line of the Metro is scheduled to open in September.
www.gulfnews.com By Ashfaq Ahmed, Chief Reporter
