Source: www.rta.ae
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has recently held a Rail Forum featuring the participation of about 50 students taking various engineering programs in a host of UAE universities with the aim of giving them exposure to rail projects and various related engineering works in a bid to encourage and pave the way for them to take up field works after graduation.
“The Rail Forum is held for the first time in the RTA in line with our vision based on meeting with students in various engineering programs with the aim of embedding and boosting the knowledge sharing concept in all matters related to rail projects, and exploring the possibility of introducing new programs for studying rail engineering in universities and relevant colleges to keep pace with the ongoing development in mass transit means, particularly the metro and tram in the Emirate; which requires high-class Emirati personnel in this field. The Forum also acts as a starting event for educating students before graduation about various topics relating to the rail industry, particularly as the RTA Rail Agency comprises all engineering specialties,” explained Al Ali.
The CEO of RTA Rail Agency also gave a briefing about the establishment of the RTA along with the key achievements made on the ground in various fields, be it relating to roads or mass transit modes, until it shaped into a key destination for officials of various metropolitan cities seeking to know more about its programs and business procedures.
The Forum included visual presentations spotlighting all affairs relating to the metro project and the tram project which will be launched this month. One presentation focused on RTA’s advanced roads network constructed at world-class standards which contributed to slashing the negative impact of constructing infrastructure projects within densely populated cities like Dubai. The metro project is therefore considered one of the key projects not only at the UAE level, bust also across the world, and has a positive contribution to reducing the traffic congestion and negative impacts on the people’s life. The presentation also touched on sophisticated systems used in drilling metro tunnels, elucidated tunnel construction methods in the metro projects, and discussed points of weakness & strength of each type of these roads.
Another presentation screened the role of the RTA in developing a master plan for the rail network in the Emirate to keep abreast of the urbanization to be seen by the Emirate up to 2030. The plan encompasses various details relating to the metro lines (Red and Green), and Dubai Tram line in addition to the new lines to be opened in future for broadening the geographical coverage of the rail network services. Discussions also included planning principles and criteria set for identifying the type of systems required to serve future projects, and chalking the route & locations of stations of the rail network in future with the aim of realizing the targeted rate of ridership served by public transit means set as 30% of the daily peoples movement by 2030.
During the event, the students attended a general visual presentation about the roles & responsibilities of Trains’ Right of Way Services Office where they had an idea about some key terminologies, organizational structure, realms of authorities, roles and responsibilities, office legislative systems, and NOC issuance procedures adopted by the Office, besides giving them an idea about restricted activities within trains right of way. Another visual presentation also highlighted the system specifications, train operation mechanism and safety systems in place.
The presentation also gave students a brief idea about the Dubai Metro operations including cutting-edge technologies of rail systems, which enabled the metro to enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest driverless metro network worldwide, in addition to its good performance evidenced by many performance indicators achieved. Such achievement is a testament to RTA’s commitment to ensure a safe and smooth transport for all. The presentation also gave an overview about the metro control center, which monitors the performance of the rolling stock and stations throughout the day, and its role in in ensuring the security and smoothness of metro operations.
Another presentation highlighted the various metro operation and maintenance systems, which include train, automatic control system, communications system, electric power network, control & monitoring system, maintenance equipment, automated fare collection system, platform screen doors, and a brief summary about the principles of designing these systems and how to operate them in the rail projects.
At the end of the Forum, students were taken on introductory tour around RTA Projects Gallery to view RTA’s achievements, the evolution of road systems in Dubai emirate, and the future vision of projects that the RTA intends to implement in the near future. More info
