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Anyone know when it's due to open? I heard somewhere it was mid or end of February.

they pushed all openings on the red line to mid april, 2 month delay. that was the latest news. they opened up burj dubai as the tower opened but the rest of the red line is supposed to be all opening together, which at this point is april, which means most likely april 2011

I'm amazed that the RTA didn't factor in the PR impact of only opening a few select (marginally underused) stations, whilst leaving stations like the Marina until summer 2010 (and it will be summer).

Are the RTA only interested in the facade of a working metro system? Enough to get news stories out in the press? What about people that actually want/need to use it?

It will be a ways away. All work has been slowed down due to lack of payment. Besides, after the intinal novelty use of the metro it isn't used by as many as anticipated and it will be less people as it gets warmer. I have no idea when Marina station will open but neither does the RTA.

Sources in the RTA told Gulf News that a number of other people have also complained in the past against the behaviour of Metro inspectors and the strict policy of issuing penalties regardless of consideration of the circumstances.

Following such complaints, the RTA also asked Serco to replace all the expatriate inspectors with Emiratis, who are currently on board the trains to issue fines
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/traff ... t-1.577664

New stations aside, anyone else find that responding to complaints over ticket inspectors by replacing expatriate ticket inspectors with Emiratis doesnt make any sense at all. I woudl understand if they allowed Emirati inspectors for whatever reason.
Is it , gasp, that some of the expat inspectors were strict with everyone, when they should have been lenient with people based on their status ?


I do know that some Saudi visitors to Dubai criticize Dubai it for not treating them better than non-Arabs.

Dr Strangeglove wrote:Anyone know when it's due to open? I heard somewhere it was mid or end of February.

Last official information from the RTA was by the end of February, but there was a 7 Days story in January that opening would be delayed until April 2010. The RTA didn't comment so it's probably correct ...

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/dubai-metro-red-line.php

bonk wrote:

Dr Strangeglove wrote:Anyone know when it's due to open? I heard somewhere it was mid or end of February.

Last official information from the RTA was by the end of February, but there was a 7 Days story in January that opening would be delayed until April 2010. The RTA didn't comment so it's probably correct ...

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/dubai-metro-red-line.php

It will not happen in April either.

whats ironic is that the RTA station wasn't opened on th opening day!

Planning of the Dubai Metro began under the directive of Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who expected other projects to attract 15 million visitors to Dubai by 2010. The combination of a rapidly-growing population (expected to reach 3 million by 2017) and severe traffic congestion necessitated the building of an urban rail system to provide additional public transportation capacity, relieve motor traffic, and provide infrastructure for additional development.
In May 2005 a AED 12.45 billion/US$ 3.4 billion design and build contract was awarded to the Dubai Rail Link (DURL) consortium made up of Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, Obayashi Corporation, Kajima Corporation and Turkish firm Yapı Merkezi. The first phase (worth AED 15.5 billion/US$ 4.2 billion) covers 35 kilometres (22 mi) of the proposed network, including the Red Line between Al Rashidiya and the Jebel Ali Free Zone set for completion by September 2009 and the Green Line from Al Qusais 2 to Al Jaddaf 1. This is to be completed by June 2010. A second phase contract was subsequently signed in July 2006 and includes extensions to the initial routes. The Red Line partially opened at 9 minutes and 9 seconds past 9 PM on September 9, 2009 (9/9/9 9:9:9), inaugurated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum. The construction cost of the Dubai Metro project has shot up by about 80 per cent from the original AED 15.5 billion/US$ 4.2 billion to AED 28 billion/US$ 7.6 billion. The authorities said the cost of the project did not overshoot. They attributed the increase in expenditure to the major changes in the scope and design of the project. The authorities also expect to generate AED 18 billion/US$ 4.9 billion in income over the next 10 years. But they speculate that the Metro would not be a profit-making enterprise since the fares would be subsidised.
Work officially commenced on the construction of the metro on March 21, 2006.[ Still in February 2009, a top RTA Rail Agency official said "The $4.2 billion Dubai Metro project would be completed on schedule despite global crisis," however, two weeks before the planned opening the RTA had to admit that only 10 out of 29 metro station of the red line will be ready to open in time.[9] The remaining stations are now scheduled to open by February 2010.

Ref; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Metro#Construction

It is a tremendous feat of Engineering and Construction, it may be late, but it is still great.

sage & onion wrote:
It is a tremendous feat of Engineering and Construction,

lol its just a raised railtrack, they even had one in thailand way before UAE.

Before they started putting the grey borders around the bases of the plinths that hold the track, when you drove down sheikh zayed you could see the levelling was terrible with lots of packing plates!

Roadtester wrote:

sage & onion wrote:
It is a tremendous feat of Engineering and Construction,

lol its just a raised railtrack, they even had one in thailand way before UAE.

Before they started putting the grey borders around the bases of the plinths that hold the track, when you drove down sheikh zayed you could see the levelling was terrible with lots of packing plates!

To Sage anything Dubai or UAE is "great"

XPT wrote:

Roadtester wrote:

sage & onion wrote:
It is a tremendous feat of Engineering and Construction,

lol its just a raised railtrack, they even had one in thailand way before UAE.

Before they started putting the grey borders around the bases of the plinths that hold the track, when you drove down sheikh zayed you could see the levelling was terrible with lots of packing plates!

To Sage anything Dubai or UAE is "great"

Except you of course Concs

There are a number of stations already finished on the red line but are not opened yet, the reason - the stations haven't been paid for yet.

The green line is not going to happen now either.

What are you basing your statement on?

The balance of the Red Line Stations will most certainly be open before the middle of the year.

The Green line is well on and scheduled to open 10/10/10

FTD wrote:There are a number of stations already finished on the red line but are not opened yet, the reason - the stations haven't been paid for yet.

The green line is not going to happen now either.

Correct indeed.

sage & onion wrote:The balance of the Red Line Stations will most certainly be open before the middle of the year.

Well, they will if they are paid for. Though apparently to run efficiently with all stations open, there needs to be double the amount of trains on the track. More expense I doubt that has been factored in.

sage & onion wrote:The Green line is well on and scheduled to open 10/10/10

People don't work on good will. Creditors are already holding goods/services in lieu of payment and they don't usually commit to more work once existing credit has been cleared.

Also the metro is hemorrhaging money with operating costs as it is. Why would a country spend money it doesn't have, expanding something that is loosing money?

are the red line stations still all running of leased generators?