UAE | Traffic and Transport

Metro users to get free parking spaces

Dubai Metro users will get free parking spaces at three major locations as part of the Roads and Transport Authority's policy of 'park and ride'.

  • By Ashfaq Ahmed, Chief Reporter
  • Published: 00:10 May 29, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Work continues at a fast pace on the Metro project at the Union Square.
  • Image Credit: Devadasan/Gulf News
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Dubai: Dubai Metro users will get free parking spaces at three major locations as part of the Roads and Transport Authority's policy of 'park and ride'.

"We are making huge parking plazas at three locations to attract larger number of passengers to encourage them park their cars and use Metro," said Engineer Adnan Al Hammadi, Director of Construction Department at the Rail Agency of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

Speaking to reporters during the first guided media trip to Metro construction sites yesterday, Al Hammadi said the biggest parking lot for around 6,000 cars is being built in Al Ghusais at the end of the Green Line.

A seven-storey parking building to accommodate around 2,800 cars is under construction at the Rashidiya station in Deira on the Red Line while the third parking lot for around 2,000 cars is being built near Jumeirah Islands station on Shaikh Zayed Road.

Transportation

There will be no private parking for Metro passengers on rest of the stations. However, Al Hammadi said every station will have connection for public transport buses and taxi lay-by.

Journalists were taken to Rashidiya Metro station, Metro depot at Rashidiya and the underground Union Square station in Deira, the biggest station where the Red and the Green Line will cross each other.

"We have completed 70 per cent of the construction work on the Red Line while some 27 per cent of the construction on the Green Line has been completed," said Al Hammadi. "We are well ahead of schedule and will finish our work before September 9, 2009."

Construction on the Dh15.5-billion Dubai Metro project started in August 2005. The world's largest automated - and thus driverless - Metro system is in the 33rd month of its construction out of the scheduled 49 months.

The Red Line of the 74.6km Metro project is scheduled to be operational from September 9, 2009, whereas the Green Line will start functioning from March 2010.

"We have achieved a number of milestones ahead of time," said Al Hammadi. One of the major milestones achieved so far is the completion of the tunneling for underground portion of the Red Line.

The challenging task consisted of boring the tunnel under the creek and the Dnata building. Successful testing of the train on the test track this month was another major milestone.

Pedestrian bridges

Some of the milestones include finishing of the underground stations, completion of elevated stations, the tunneling work on the Green Line, metal track for the trains and construction of the pedestrian bridges at all the stations.

There will be 47 Metro stations, including two transfer stations situated underground.

One of them will be at Union Square in Deira, which is the largest in terms of size, and other one at BurJuman in Bur Dubai, which is the deepest at 30m below the ground level.

"The Union Square station is 230m long and 50m wide, making it one of the largest Metro stations in the world," said Al Hammadi.

He said the stations would have the capacity to expand in future in case of increase in users.

Main depot at Rashidiya

Dubai Metro will have its main depot in Rashidiya, which is being built with the state-of-the-art technology, said an official at the Roads and Transport Authority.

"The Rashidiya depot will be the heart and soul of the Dubai Metro network as it will not only consist of parking, maintenance and repair for train coaches but will also house its main operation and control room," said Engineer Adnan Al Hammadi, Director of Construction at the the Roads and Transport Authority's (RTA) Rail Agency.

The depot will accommodate 64 trains while the rest will be accommodated at the Jebel Ali depot and Al Ghusais depot.

"The depot will house the Metro Operation Systems Control Centre, which will be used to control every aspect of Metro operation, including automated doors, brakes, movement of each train on the track, air conditioning, electronic devices and the monitoring of track to ensure safety and security of passengers," said Al Hammadi.

The two-storey building, covering 10,000 square metres, will have a sophisticated security system.

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