Dubai: Dubai Metro will link with Dubai Festival City through marine services from Al Jaddaf and Creek stations that will begin operations from Saturday.
The two stations will be the last of 48 stations on both the Green and Red lines to open to the public.
The stations will serve residents and workers around Al Jaddaf area as well as Dubai Festival City and provide a link to marine services that are set to be launched.
Abras, waterbuses as well as water taxis will serve Metro passengers to Dubai Festival City as part of an integrated network planned by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA)
Located in Al Jaddaf on either side of Al Khail Road, the stations will also serve future developments such as Culture Village and Sama Al Jadaf, along with serving Al Wasl Club and Jaddaf dockyard.
“The stations will also serve Dubai Festival City through operating a marine transit service linking with the Creek station. Al Wasl Club will also be linked with Al Jaddaf station through a bus route to be operated when matches are held,” said Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA.
A parking lot with a capacity to hold 100 vehicles has been built to allow passengers to park and ride, besides linking the stations with a bus route.
“Operating these two stations will contribute significantly to expediting the development tempo in the neighbourhood and, accordingly, the ridership will pick up gradually as per the foreseeable inputs,” added Al Tayer.
He stated that the daily ridership of Al Jaddaf station is expected to be 2,100 riders per day, whereas the Creek station is expected to be used by about 1,400 riders every day.
Al Jaddaf and Creek stations are among the elevated Metro stations where the concourse and platform are on the upper level of the elevated Metro track.
Each station extends 132 metres in length and 29 metres in width, and has a capacity to handle 11,000 passengers per hour per direction. The two stations are equipped with all the basic facilities such as escalators, elevators and emergency facilities.
“We have carried out technical test runs of the Metro including testing the communication systems, automatic operation systems, power feed system, and the air-conditioning system, among others. We will also assign 16 staff members to man the two Metro stations and they have already been deployed at site after undergoing intense training on delivering customer service, implementing regulations drawn up by the RTA to protect the facilities, and enforcing rules against offenders,” Al Tayer said.
