Dubai: There is good news for Sharjah residents the Dubai Metro line is expected to be extended up to the Sharjah-Dubai borders along Al Ittihad Road, an official at the Roads and Transport Authority said.
"We are studying the possibility of extending the Red Line from Union Square to the Sharjah-Dubai border in the north and from Jebel Ali Port to the Dubai-Abu Dhabi borders in the south," said Adnan A. Al Hammadi, Director of the Construction Department of Dubai Metro.
He said the Green Line will be progressively extended from Healthcare City to the Al Jadaf area where big commercial and residential developments are being carried out.
The new map of the Dubai Metro also shows an extension of both the Red and Green Lines.
However, the length of the extended lines is not yet known.
"We have not yet decided how many stations will be built on the extended lines because we are still studying the project," Al Hammadi said.
The project is not yet finalised and has to be approved.
According to the original plan, the Dubai Metro System will run on Red and Green Lines with a total length of 69.7km.
The Red Line is 52.1km long and runs between Rashidiya and Jebel Ali Port. The Green Line is 17.6km long and runs from Al Qusais 2 to Healthcare City.
The Red Line will have 4.7km of underground tracks and 47.4km will be an elevated line.
Bus links from Sharjah
The Green Line will have 7.6km of underground tracks and 10km of elevated lines.
The extension is being planned to cope with the development in the new areas in the city.
The Sharjah Public Transport Corporation (SPTC) is also planning to provide a seamless link with the Dubai public transport system, especially with the Dubai Metro.
In a recent meeting with the RTA officials, a delegation of the SPTC discussed its plans to provide links with the main bus routes of Dubai especially in Al Qusais and Al Nahda areas, which will also have Dubai Metro Stations.
The aim is to provide adequate public transport facilities to people living in Sharjah and ease traffic congestion on roads linking Dubai and Sharjah.
FACT FILE
- Cost of the Dubai Metro Project (excluding extension) Dh15.5billion
- Phase one of the Red Line will be operational in September 2009
- Phase two of the Green Line will complete by March 2010.
- It will be a driverless automatic system and will be controlled from the Operation Control Centre.
- The Red Line wil be 52.1km with 24 elevated stations and four underground stations
- The Green Line will be 17.6km with eight elevated and five underground stations.
- The total number of is stations 41
- The Metro system will have 18.7 km of tunnels and 51 km of viaducts.
- The maximum speed of trains is 110 km/h
- A total of 87 trains comprising five carriages each will be run along the Red and Green Lines
- Each train will have three sections: VIP (first class); ladies and children and economy
----Each train will have a capacity of 600 passengers
- Waiting time between each train will be 160 seconds and it will be reduced to 90 seconds during rush hours.
- The total trip time on the Red Line will be 66 minutes
- The total trip time on the Green Line will be 27 minutes.
