DUBAI: Dubai’s dream project metro became a reality when Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, flagged off the first metro train from the Mall of the Emirates to Al Rashidiya late Wednesday night.
Sheikh Mohammed, after declaring the metro open, boarded the train with VIP guests and media representatives.
At exactly 9:09 p.m., Sheikh Mohammed swiped the metro’s first ticket and was joined in the trip by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Dubai’s deputy ruler and UAE’s minister of finance, and several other dignitaries.
The $7.6 billion Dubai Metro, when running at full capacity, will be the world’s longest driverless train system.
The project, executed in a record time, has 10 stations on the Red Line — Al Rashidiya, Airport Terminal 3, City Center, Al Rigga, Union Square, Khalid bin Al Waleed, Jafliah and Financial Center, Mall of the Emirates, Nakheel and Tower Stations. The remaining 19 stations on the Red Line will be opened in phases by February 2010.
The rapid transit line has been slotted together at breakneck speed, much like the often traffic-clogged city it aims to serve. In true Dubai style, it even promises a VIP section for higher-paying customers who don’t want to mix with the rest of the public using the public transport line.
For many of Dubai’s foreign guest workers, the rail project could mean far quicker commutes in a sprawling city-state where shared taxis, packed vans and creaky wooden boats are among the most visible forms of public transportation. Driverless, remote-controlled trains will whisk passengers along an elevated line that snakes over and under numerous bridges crisscrossing the city’s main multilane highway before heading underground in the city center.
A screen between passengers and the track itself allows stations to be air-conditioned — not an insignificant consideration given that temperatures routinely top 110 degrees Fahrenheit and the summer humidity is oppressive. Wireless Internet is being promised throughout.
Each five-car train has a separate compartment reserved for women and children, much like the Arab world’s only other metro in Cairo. Women will be able to sit in other cars as well.
And, in a nod to Dubai’s premium tastes, every train will reserve the front for big spenders willing to pay double for leather seats in the system’s “gold class” section.
The elite seats, like the Internet and the chilled stations, are an effort to coax at least some of Dubai’s SUV-loving residents off the roads.
— With input from agencies
