Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Wednesday visited a new air-conditioned 820-metre walkway linking the Burj Khalifa Metro station to the Dubai Mall.
The new facility will reduce vehicle traffic and enable 30,000 users per day to use the Metro station in temperature-controlled atmosphere.
The 820-metre walkway is expected to come as a huge relief to Metro passengers going into Downtown. Previously, visitors had to take connecting buses or walk for at least 10 minutes to reach the Dubai Mall from the Burj Khalifa Metro Station.
The link will be open not just to Metro passengers but also to pedestrians with exit routes along its length and access stairs.
According to Emaar, the Dubai Mall Metro Link, as the bridge is called, will comprise five travelators in either direction with a central walkway. The travelators are expected to carry more than 13,500 people per hour.
Travelling at an average speed of half a metre per second from the Burj Khalifa Metro Station entrance, the travelators will pass through the Downtown Dubai development before entering Dubai Mall.
Further connections to Emaar Square, Boulevard Plaza and Emaar Boulevard have also been planned.
With inputs from Sharmila Dhal, Senior Reporter
