Dubai: Dubai Metro’s Red Line will have an additional stop — Energy station in Jebel Ali — operating from September 30, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced.

Until now 28 of the 29 stations on the Red Line were operational and Energy station will be the last station to open its doors to commuters.

The station, expected to serve 2,500 people daily, is located between Danube and Ibn Battuta stations in Jebel Ali industrial area.

Energy station provides an additional gateway to residents and workers of the sprawling Jebel Ali area.

“The station will serve various communities and companies, giving an additional access to thousands of people,” said Mohammad Yousuf Al Mudharreb, director of rail operation at RTA’s Rail Agency.

The locality is already served by three other stations — Jebel Ali, Danube and Ibn Battuta — and the fourth station will further enhance the reach of public transport in the area around Dubal and other industrial clusters.

An additional stop will mean an increase in passengers as well as duration of the total journey time on the Red Line, which currently clocks at 1 hour 12 minutes.

“The stop duration will be around 30 seconds depending on the hour of the day, the stop timings have been adjusted to make sure no additional time has been added to the journey,” said Al Mudharreb.

Peak hours

To cope with the expected increase in passengers, the RTA has made some changes to the schedule of Metro operations.

The peak hours on the Red Line will start at 6.30am instead of 7am during weekdays. While the headway will be adjusted on Saturdays in the peak morning and evening hours to 6 minutes, on Fridays the headway will be adjusted to 6 minutes from 5pm to 10pm.  On the Green Line, the morning peak hours will be from 7am to 9.30am, with a headway of 6 minutes, and the evening peak hours from 5.30pm to 7pm, with a six-minute headway.

The 52.5-km-long Red Line, stretching from Jebel Ali to Rashidiya, was inaugurated on September 9, 2009 and has since turned out to be the major transportation lifeline of Dubai, serving around 250,000 passengers daily.

Al Mudharreb also announced that commercial outlets at the station will be up for grabs for interested parties, while the naming right of the station is also up for sale.

The station is served by feeder bus route F34, which will cover Gardens, Jebel Ali Village and the Jebel Ali Church.

The buses will run at a headway of 20 minutes during peak hours and 30 minutes during non-peak hours.

Al Mudharreb also added that the buses will also avoid circular trips in order to reduce journey time for passengers.