by Neeraj Gangal on Saturday, 20 February 2010
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/581941-d ... -in-april-
ON TRACK: All works in the stations on the Metro's Green Line will be completed in August 2011. (Getty Images)The remaining works in the stations on Dubai Metro's Red Line will be completed in April 2010, and all works in the stations on the Green Line will be completed in August 2011, a senior official from Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) announced in a press release on Saturday.
Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA said that the contractor of the Dubai Metro Project; Dubai Rail Link (DURL) Consortium; is set to complete all the remaining works on the Red Line (18 stations) on 25 April 2010. [see map]
All works in the stations on the Metro's Green Line will be completed in August 2011, he added.
"The operation of Red Line stations will be in phases starting from April 25th, 2010; where several key stations will be operational; namely Emirates Station, Airport Terminal 1 Station, GGICO Station, Al Karama Station, World Trade Center Station, Marina Station, and Ibn Battuta Station. The remaining stations will be operated over the following months of 2010" Al Tayer said.
He summarised the criteria upon which the stations to be operated on 25 April 2010 had been selected as: "availability of population density in the locality served by each station so as to provide convenient services to the inhabitants in the neighbourhood, availability of commercial activities in the area served by each station, availability of government activities in the vicinity of each station, the station integration with other transport modes such as buses & water transport means, and the projected number of commuters at each station".
Al Tayer explained that the RTA has agreed with DURL Consortium undertaking Dubai Metro Project to prioritise the works of the project.
"RTA will provide the biggest portion of cash injections out of its budget allocated by the Government of Dubai to cover the cost of the additional works on the Red & Green Lines, add new stations to meet the needs of property development projects, add a depot to accommodate the resultant increase in the capacity, and increase the number of footbridges linking with the metro stations to enable the public use the metro easily. The remaining portion of additional works' cost will be funded through the project Contractor" Al Tayer said.
The Green line is the second line of the Dubai Metro and will be a 22.5km line comprising 40 trains that will run from Dubai Airport Free Zone to Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) through Saeediya and comprises two interchange stations with the Red Line, at Union Square and Burjuman.
Dubai Metro has served 9,872,545 passengers since it was launched last September, according to latest statistics compiled by Rail Agency of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
Ramadan Abdullah, director of Rail Operation Department at RTA Rail Agency said in a statement on Friday that the Mall of the Emirates Station was still the most attractive to both commuters and tourists, recording 1,578,447 passengers; accounting for 16 percent of total passenger count.
Should be interesting to see if they actually achieve their objectives.
