The BurJuman underground station will be to Dubai's Metro system what Piccadilly Circus is to the London Underground, according to an engineer working on the massive project.
Now under construction, the new BurJuman Station in Bur Dubai will be a crossroads for both the Red and Green lines, which will run across the bustling city.
Bassam Mansour, an engineering director at the Rail Agency part of the Roads and Transport Agency the company behind the metro project, said the underground station will be magnificent.
"It will be better looking than the usual underground stations you see around the world. It will be architecturally pleasing," he said.
"It will also be strategically important to Dubai and will transport tourists into the heart of the city." Mansour said the station, which will have four entrances and facilities for disabled travellers, will be quite a significant part of the metro system and will become well know in itself.
"It will be a Piccadilly Circus type station in a central location in the old part of the city," he said.
"A lot of tourists would like to travel to the old parts of the city by metro and there will be easy connections to other parts from Bur Dubai." The station will have three levels: the first level, the concourse, will have retail outlets, information and ticket booths, the second will see connections to the Green Line, with the Red Line connections running on the third level.
"In terms of development it will be interesting both architecturally and constructurally," said Mansour, who has worked as a senior rail manager with British Railways Board and the London Underground. Passengers will be able to board trains from the station to destinations such as Dubai International Airport and Jebel Ali Port.
The metro system will have three other underground stations: Union Square, Rigga Street and Port Saeed and each will be have a distinct identity, he said.
"Each station will have its own individuality and with the BurJuman being in the commercial centre of the old city it will have special importance," Bassam added.
"The entrance to the station will be dramatic architecturally and the concourse will have an iconic interior design, which will be different to the other stations." Construction on the walls and excavations of the perimeter of the station started earlier this month. BurJuman Station along with the 27 other stations on the Red Line will be finished by September 2009 completing the first stage of Dubai Metro. It is expected to ease traffic significantly.
Traffice solution
Dubai Metro system has been designed to alleviate the chronic traffic problems in Dubai and serve its growing population.
The first stage of the project will be the Red Line, which will have 28 stations running from Jebel Ali Port, to the Airport Free Zone. Stage two, the Green Line, will have 15 stations to begin with and five more later. It will run from Festival City, through the Deira City Centre, Dubai International Airport's Terminals 1 and 3 and on to Rashidiya.
The Red Line is scheduled to be completed by 2009 and the Green Line is expected to be finished by 2010.
Conceptual designs are already under way for a third line, which will be known as the Blue Line, which will run along Emirates Road and connect Dubai World Central International Airport in Jebel Ali with Dubai International Airport. When the first two stages are completed, the metro system is projected to carry around 27,000 passengers per hour for each line, and 355 million passengers per year once both lines are fully operational.
Investment costs for the full Dubai Metro System are believed to be up to Dh14.3 billion.
By Adrian Murphy
© Emirates Today 2006
