UAE | Traffic and Transport
Metro tunnel work to begin in January
Tunnelling for the underground section of the Dubai Metro will start in January 2007. The tunnel will pass under the creek up to a length of 1.6 km at a depth of 30 metres.
- By Ashfaq Ahmed, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:34 May 3, 2009
- The machine to be used to dig the Dubai Metro tunnel has a diameter of 9.56 metres, is 82 metres long and weighs 1,000 tonnes.
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
Dubai: Tunnelling for the underground section of the Dubai Metro will start in January 2007, said a senior official.
"A tailor-made tunnel boring machine (TBM), which has already been assembled in Japan, will reach Dubai in November this year," said Adnan Al Hammadi, Director of the Construction Department at the Dubai Metro Agency of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
The machine has been manufactured to bore through hard rocks or sand layers. "Residents will not feel any impact of tunnelling work because there will be hardly any vibration," said Al Hammadi. The RTA has already completed the survey and determined the route of the tunnelling work.
The machine is named 'Al Bugeisha' after the small desert rodent found in Asia and North Africa.
"The tunnel boring for the underground part of the Red Line of the Metro will start in January 2007 at Union Square in Deira towards BurJuman Centre," said Al Hammadi.
The tunnel will pass under the creek up to a length of 1.6 km at a depth of 30 metres.
TBMs are used as an alternative to blasting methods and has the advantage of minimum disturbance to the surrounding soil.
Two lines to total 69.7km
The Dh15.5 billion Dubai Metro project has two lines, Red and Green, with a total length of 69.7 km.
A total of 12.3 km of the lines will be underground.
The Red Line, which is currently being constructed during phase one runs from Rashidiya Station to Jabel Ali Station, is 52.1 km long. It will include 4.7 km of underground metro line and 47.4 km elevated line.
The Green Line, which will be constructed during phase two, is 17.6 km long including a 7.6km underground line in the business district areas of Dubai. Around 9000 workers will be involved in the Dubai Metro project construction work from January 2007.
Share this article
More from UAE Traffic and Transport
More from UAE
Popular in UAE
-
Your pictures
Readers' pictures
The best reader pictures from around the UAE this week
Latest news
- Student tackles used cooking oil
- Road accidents the leading cause of brain injuries in Dubai
- No one wants to teach
- Notary phone bookings to start next month
- Move abandoned vehicles out of the way
- English to stay as medium of instruction
- Fishmongers, consumers trade charges
- DIFF function to raise funds for Aids charity
- Seven held trying to fly from Abu Dhabi illegally
- Trucks queue eases at Saudi border
- 15 genetic triggers linked to birth defects in UAE
- Haj mission's H1N1 measures lauded
- Employer prosecuted for false accusation
- Number of Saudi students rises
- Petrol fumes at gas stations are threat to health
Community Reports
-
Keeping out curious cats in Abu Dhabi
Felines trapped in electrical substations create a nuisance
-
Construction site turned into dump
Sharjah residents using abandoned spot to dispose of waste
-
Stop disregarding road rules
Gulf News reader calls on authorities to curb reckless driving during rush hours in Mussafah industrial area underpass
-
Public transport is the way to go
Residents must stop complaining about feeder buses taking up parking space
