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Dubai Metro Green Line to open in September: RTA

Sunday, Jun 05, 2011

Gulf News

Daily passenger load expected to double with opening of the Green Line in September

Dubai: In September, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, will launch the official operation of the Dubai Metro Green Line.

The Green Line spans 23 kilometres and comprises 16 stations in addition to the transfer stations Union and Khalid Bin Al Waleed Stations, which are shared with the Red Line. All stations will be up and running except for Al Jadaf and Creek Stations.

Strategic plan

Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Roads and Transport Authority ( RTA ), said the completion of the vital Dubai Metro project culminated the continual support and attention of Shaikh Mohammad to uplift the infrastructure of Dubai and epitomise the RTA Strategic Plan, which is aimed at providing integrated roads and transit systems to ensure "smooth mobility and highest safety levels to all network users."

With the opening of the Green Line, Al Tayer has said that he expects the current daily passenger load of "170,000 to double".

Sixteen stations will be opened on the Green Line, including the Etisalat Station in Al Ghusais near Emirates Road, which is the starting point of the Green Line. The station is linked to a multi-level Park-and-Ride terminal with a capacity to house 2,350 vehicles as well as a bus station in order to encourage the public to use the Metro in travelling within Dubai.

The design of the station provides sufficient space for public buses to feed the station and ensures a smooth flow of a large number of buses at a time. The parking lot is also fitted with air-conditioned footbridges linking with the other side of the road, and all essential safety standards are in place to ensure smooth passenger movement within the facility.

Underground passage

The Al Ghusais Station follows. The station is located near the building of the Ministry of Education and the General Department of Dubai Civil Defence as well as Al Twar Center; which is a hub for several government services.

The Airport Free Zone Station; which serves Terminal 2 of Dubai Airport and Dubai Airport Free Zone, will also open.

Other stations include Al Nahda Station; which is adjacent to the building of the Ministry of Public Works and the Union Cooperative Society; the Stadium Station near Al Ahli Club; Al Qiyadah Station on Al Ittihad Road near the Dubai Police General Headquarter; Abu Hail station which serves a host of public schools, commercial centers and businesses; and the Abu Baker Al Siddique Station which is situated near Al Muraqqabat Police Station and serves several commercial centers, hotels and business outlets.

The Metro line moves through an underground passage extending 8 kilometres, starting with Salah Uddin Station; which is the ninth on the Green Line, following which the Green and Red Lines intersect at the Union station; which is considered the largest underground metro station in the world spanning an area of 25,000 square meters with a capacity to handle about 22,000 passengers per hour.

The station comprises two levels and measures 230 meters in length, 50 meters in width and 18 meters in depth. It accommodates business & service outlets for the metro riders and has two entry points fitted with elevators and escalators. Four tunnels branch out of the Union Square Station linking up with Baniyas Square and Salah Uddin Stations on the Green Line as well as Khalid Bin Al Waleed and Al Rigga Stations on the Red Line.

The tenth station on the Green Line is Baniyas Square Station; which serves a densely populated and high business traffic area incorporating Naif Souk and a large number of hotels and business outlets. The eleventh is Palm Deira Station, followed by Al Ras and Al Ghubaiba Stations; which feature a typical UAE traditional architectural design.

The gist of the design concept revolves around employing the architectural traditional elements used in antique buildings, such as wind towers (Brajeel), oriels (Mashrabia), alleyways (Sukaik), internal arches and others through replicating them in an enhanced manner, while addressing the aesthetic and technical dimensions of those elements such that the heritage-inspired stations would look like a natural expansion of the traditional Souks in the locality, the Heritage and Diving Village, and the antique control towers dotting the locality.

The entrances of the station at the ground level have been designed to match the traditional architectural setting of the area and integrate with the design of the Dubai Creek Shores Development Project; which has the same theme. The two stations serve heavily populated areas, trading outlets and banks visited by plenty of visitors.

The fourteenth is Al Fahidi Station; which serves an area of high-density commercial enterprises comprising shops, hotels and banks and the two lines then converge at Khalid Bin Al Waleed Station. The metro route then moves above the ground in an elevated track with the next stop being the fifteenth station of Oud Metha, nearby Al Nasr Club.

The Station serves a variety of government entities such as Rashid Hospital, Dubai Media Inc, schools and resident communities clubs. The sixteenth station is Dubai Healthcare City; which will be the terminus station under the initial operational stage, and the station will mainly serve the hospitals of the Dubai Healthcare City, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Wafi Center and hotels in the vicinity.

Al Tayer further added that RTA opted to hold the opening of Al Jadaf and Creek Stations, though ready for operation, due to the non-completion of property projects to be served by these two stations and the lack of passengers to use these two stations for the time being, adding that RTA would consider opening them in the next stage.

He emphasised that the number of the metro riders will pick up considerably following the operation of the Green Line as it serves dynamic and high-density commercial, government and residential areas.

Al Tayer added that the operational timing of the Green Line would be the same timing of the Red Line, adding that RTA would operate 13 trains during the morning and evening peak hours and 10 trains in the off-peak hours.

Al Ghusais Depot

The Green Line of the Dubai Metro comprises a mega metro depot at Al Ghusais and the facility, which is air-conditioned and fitted with an advanced firefighting system, provides a parking space for the metro carriages to be maintained and cleaned. It also has a parking area with a capacity to house 60 trains at a time, and contains workshops for carrying out maintenance works, and dedicated workshops for washing and cleaning of train carriages as well as an administrative building for employees.

The technical trial run

The Operator of the Dubai Metro is progressing with the technical trial run of the metro; which comprises two key phases. The first one is known as the ‘Static Test' that involves placing a motionless car of the rolling stock on the track and performing system tests covering communication systems, automatic train operation systems, power supply, air-conditioning, on-board electronics, and lighting systems in addition to integration and co-ordination tests between various sub-systems and components.

On passing the first test, the operator will move to the second phase known as the "Dynamic Test" to a car without passengers on board. It involves tests of various systems while the train is in motion, including propulsion and brake tests, load tests, traction power tests, electromagnetic compatibility tests, automatic train operation tests, communication tests and speed tests.

Staff Report

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