متـــــــــرو دبـــــــي

52km Dubai Metro trials to start soon

by Andy Sambidge
on Friday, 16 January 2009

TESTING TIMES: Trials are about to begin on the full 52km length of the Red Line of the Dubai Metro project.Trial runs of the full 52km length of the Dubai Metro’s Red Line will begin at the end of January, a project chief announced on Friday.

Abdul Majid Al Khaja, CEO of the Rail Agency at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said trains would soon be seen travelling along the track from Jebel Ali Industrial Area to Rashidiya.

“We have been doing a successful trial of trains on an 11km track from Jebel Ali to Ibn Battuta Mall. Now people will see trains running the full length of the Red Line until the service is opened to the public in September this year,” Khaja added in comments published by UAE daily Gulf News.

He said the Red Line was ready for the trial with work on the tracks completed this month

Some 60 per cent of work on the Green Line and about 83 per cent of work on the Red Line was completed by the end of December, Khaja told the paper.

He added that signalling would be ready by the end of Jan, while all stations on the Red Line will be ready by May.

“We are already geared up to complete work on the stations on schedule. All the footbridges on the Red Line stations will also be completed by the end of May,” he said.

Khaja revealed that up to 800 million dirhams was being spent on the project every month.

He confirmed that operations would start on the Metro’s Red Line on September 9, with operations on the Green Line scheduled to start in March 2010