Dubai Metro
As Dubai Metro (in Arabic مترو دبي METRÒ Dubayy) is called the Dubai Metro network. It is the fourth metro network in the Middle East, Haifa ( 1959), Cairo (1987) and Tehran ( 1999) and is operated completely driverless. Construction began in October 2005 by a consortium of Japanese companies and a partial opening, initially with ten stops of the first phase ( " Red Line " ) was held on 9 September 2009.
On 9 September 2011 the clasp -like shorter " Green Line " followed initially with 16 stations. When completed around 2020, the Metro should the initial planning According to possess 170-200 km tracks in 1435 -mm standard gauge with about 120 stops. Initially to be transported daily and about 355 million per year with 90 trains an average of 1.2 million passengers. The trails are only to 18.7 km in the tunnel, the rest above ground. Tunnels were built in the city center, on the outer tracks runs the subway with ramps to an average of about four feet high viaducts, in some places the high-range increases up to six meters, in other places for driving under bridges etc. also lowered. The slopes occurring here and an incline of three to four percent are hardly noticed by the passengers. Except for a single-storey railway station are all above-ground stations at the height of the viaducts.
Costs and cost increases
The initially estimated construction costs of the system were approximately 15.5 billion UAE dirhams ( approximately 3.8 billion euros ) and the annual maintenance costs estimated at 133 million euros. End of August 2009 divided the road and Transport Authority RTA with that so far, 50-60% of the original plan had been amended and supplemented in the course of the adaptation process, which lead to a cost increase of 80 % to 28 billion dirhams ( 5.7 billion euros ) will. The cost increase to have originated mainly from unplanned additional structures like other large parking garages, altered feeding structures, more difficult road and bridge adjustments, new bus bays and stops the feeder lines, improve the quality of the stations as well as the subsequent route extension of the Green Line at seven kilometers.
Network design and planning
Opened lines
The Red Line is 52.1 km long, of which 4.7 kilometers underground, and runs between the Port of Jebel Ali and the district Raschidiyya, about 2 km south-east from Dubai International Airport. Your operating time is from 5.30 clock to 24 clock, Thursdays and Fridays to 01.00 clock. The total journey time from terminus to terminus is 66 minutes. Due to non-compliance schedules could take place with ten stations on September 9, 2009, only a partial opening. January 2010 was followed by the station Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall, on 25 April 2010 a further seven stations, 16 May 2010 then three more stations. Since the opening of five other stations on October 15, 2010 ( Business Bay, First Gulf Bank, Sharaf DG, Nakheel, Jumeirah Lakes Towers ), a total of 26 of the 29 stations in operation. The terminus ' Jebel Ali' far west in the district of the port and free trade zone opened its doors in March 2011, during the last two western stations still remain unsecured used for lower demand.
When completed, the Red Line will have 29 stations, of which only 4 underground. The tunnels were built in shield tunneling 18 meters below the surface, and the Dubai Creek was driving so. At one of the two points of intersection of the Red and Green Line in Deira ( Union Square ) of the area 's largest underground metro station in the world was created: 230 by 50 meters on three floors.
In the long term is an extension of this line of Jebel Ali to the limit of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in the conversation. As Abu Dhabi is already planning a similar Metro system, the mutual passage could be realized.
The Green Line is 23.9 km (including 7.9 km underground) long and connects al - Qusais to Dubai Creek. The train stops at 18 stations (initially only 16), including 6 underground. Your uptime is 5.50 clock to 24 clock, Thursdays and Fridays to 01.00 clock. The duration for a ride between the termini is 27 minutes. At the southeast end station al - Qusais is tried with a 3000 parking spaces large park - and-ride car park to let change the car commuters from Sharjah to the Metro. With the Red Line there are two common stations: Union Square in Deira district and Khalid bin al -Waleed in the Bur Dubai district. Only then can we speak of a metro system, because both lines - make the main city areas accessible - Dual interconnected. In October 2010 it was announced that the Green Line should be extended as soon as possible to the southeast by a further 19.1 km to the emerging Academic City; as the time horizon was called 2017. With this second phase, you will reach the many thousands of students and residents of the new districts in the vicinity of the Academic City.
Lines in planning
In addition to the first two lines are in the second phase of construction concrete plans for further distances.
Construction of the Blue Line was carried out in March 2009, but was stopped again in October 2009 due to the economic crisis. The line length should be 47 km and extend far out into the new southern districts. In addition, one black and one yellow line are network additionally contemplated their shorter exact routes have not yet been determined. It is also planned, the two major external Urbanisationsprojekte Palm Deira in eastern and lying in the far west Dubai Waterfront to connect through line extensions.
In the Violet line that long, " Express line " appeared particularly urgent than 49 km, the start of construction has also been postponed indefinitely. This planned line should be relatively far downtown especially the two airports with an inland course along Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road connecting. With only eight stations, it was designed for a higher top speed between 135 and 160 kilometers / hour. At three central stations each check- in counters for passengers was provided, the total travel time should be 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, also called a ( quite ambitious ) MTO planning for public transport on rails Dubai's traffic authority: the metro network by 2020, 318 km, and the tram network comprises 270 km.
The effective advertising naming rights for individual stations as well as for a whole line can be purchased with the operator. This differs from the usual ortsgeografischen station naming marketing has been added to the public with skepticism.
Table of lines and line planning
Vehicles, control technology, safety
The trains of the Dubai Metro with vehicles made in Japan (Mitsubishi) are consistently driverless. The trains are divided into three sections: first class (Gold Class ), a compartment exclusively for women and children ( similar to the Cairo system ) and a second class (Economy). Maximum can be transported per train 643 passengers, but relatively few on seats. The length of a train is usually 85 meters consisting of five blue wagon, carried out whose power was supplied through a third rail parallel to the main track. The Coll Mileage maximum speed of the train is 90 km / h ( to 110 km / h would be technically possible). During normal operation, the average speed is expected to be 45-50 km / h.
The fully automatic train control SelTrac was developed by Thales Rail Signalling Solutions, the use of which is centrally programmatic NetTrac control technology. With the maximum possible headways of 90 seconds, and an estimated speed of 90 km / h, a complete Zugumlauf on the Red Line takes 2 hrs 23 mins to 1 hour 23 minutes on the Green Line. When fully operational expansion offers the Red Line with 51 trains at peak times has a capacity of 11,675 passengers per hour. Theoretically, 25,720 people per hour could be transported with the highest compression ratio with 106 trains. Outside the peak periods is driven with a larger draw distance, in early 2010, for example, only 10 minutes Frequency, which has already led to crowding during rush hour. The Green Line could with a maximum of 60 trains have a peak capacity of 13,380 passengers per hour.
The operation of a driverless metro also places special demands on the protection to be guaranteed personal safety of the passengers. The transport authority equips all stations and pedestrian bridges gaps with a total of 3,000 surveillance cameras from, at any metro train has at least 10 cameras. The technical operation is handled by the module NetTrac Automatic Train System ATP, which, for example, ensures that in the event of a cancellation all of the following trains will be stopped. On the high route every 700 meters is prepared a ladder tipped descent point for passengers. The movement is supported internally by civilian security personnel, along with the transport authority will use a specially trained as a traffic police 660 -strong police unit designed to prevent illegal acts or operations and traffic hazards as possible and track. Some officials with sniffer dogs on the road, giving possible drug possession and trafficking is inhibited. The passenger behavior at the entry points of leaves to be desired in strong crowd left, there is little discipline to get started urging passengers. Therefore, it was announced to increase the station staff and even better to train.
Transport Association, partial opening, tariffs
The State Transport Authority (RTA ) sees the new metro, the backbone of a transport network between rail, road and involvement of the ever-growing waterways. With a composite way, the use of all three public transport network ( metro, bus, ferry) is possible. At some nodes and end points of the Metro car parks or parking garages 3000-6000 parking spaces to be created; the parking fee is included in the fare. In this way it is hoped to gain some relief from the problematic traffic congestion on the main roads of Dubai. The composite system of public transport is to capture about 80 percent of the living and working areas in Dubai by 2011. With the opening of the Red Line of the many metro stations are to be connected via stepwise 41 newly established feeder bus routes on which you will deploy 500 new buses with the respective adjoining living, working and other target areas; the "feeder" bus stops should require a maximum of 500 meters walk.
End of August 2009 informed the RTA without stating the reasons that the Red Line will initially only partially opened: only 10 out of 29 stations and only about 85 percent of the length of the route were on 9 September 2009 for dignitaries, invited guests and media, to public fireworks officially inaugurated. The remaining 19 stations should therefore follow until February 2010; one day before the inauguration of the Burj Khalifa, the corresponding station has already been released. Existing bus routes are checked with regard to the metro link and possibly out differently. Another 250 are buses for feeder services to the Green Line scheduled ( in operation from August 2011). The end of September 2009, a cooperation agreement with the largest private taxi Community Dubai Taxi Corporation was completed. It was agreed that constantly up to 300 taxis are kept ready with specially trained drivers at the metro stations, in return, the RTA provides sufficient parking spaces. Quite obviously, is the intention behind it, to defuse any contention between taxi companies and strengthened public transport; There had been fears of jeopar revenue losses in the taxi industry ahead of the opening of Metro.
The Metro will be supplemented by other rail-based offers: the driving of metro stations or nearby endpoints to random routes Dubai Monorail ( commissioning of the first line April 2009) and the first Dubai Tram, a 9.5 km long tram of Madinat Jumeirah to Dubai Marina .. After the public transport Transport Development Plan 2020 the network of tram plays an important role next to the metro.
For the introduction and popularization of the Metro is subsidized by the state. Divided into three distance zones tariff system starts at 2 dirhams ( about 0.37 € ) per single journey paper ticket or 1.80 dirhams on the multi map, the longest single trip (3 zones ) costs 6.50 or 5.80 dirhams Dirham Economy Class, in the Gold Class double these amounts. The suitable also for tourists 24 -hour composite card costs 14 dirhams ( about € 2.56 ). For local time users, there is a prepaid electronic abbuchbares ticket, which includes a discount and includes free parking at some P & R Metro stations. With the opening of the Green Line in September 2011 a new division was announced in seven tariff zones in order to meet the different needs of passengers, especially in the dense city areas. Linked to this is to be a moderate tariff adjustment, however, the highest daily rate of 14 dirhams is maintained.
Beginning of the current operation and first experiences
On the first few days on the Red Line (from 10 September 2009), there were several problems. There was a technical failure ( material failure) of a train in the station building, the passengers had to get out again, the down time was two hours. A rail replacement bus service along the Metro route has not been established. In addition, there was software errors and problems in the synchronization of the door openings on the platform. There were several delays in the pull command in some stations with losses of up to about an hour. Meanwhile, at some stations constantly replacement buses kept, it is not a passenger have to wait longer than 15 minutes on its transport.
Is critically noted that not all the announced ticket variants with savings from the outset were to buy. Especially annoy some commuters that for shorter bus rides Metro composite due to the new zoning often a higher fare (2 dirhams ) results than before for the same distance in pure bus ride.
The restriction to first only ten metro stations solved first private initiatives: To reach the more distant stations when these provided no corresponding feeder bus services, represented approximately one university in the Dubai Knowledge Village, a shuttle bus to Station Mall of the Emirates (4.4 kilometers ) for free.
After 16 days underground operation, the first million passengers were counted, of which many passengers have been identified as genuine switching from the car to the new means of transport. The masses of users, however, are - as expected - switching from bus lines and taxis. After one month of operation total of 1.7 million passengers had used the Metro, ie theoretically, every inhabitant of Dubai is already entered once. The frequency of the 10 stations is very different: the largest number of passengers has been measured at the Mall of the Emirates, while, as expected, the lowest frequency was reached on Airport Terminal 3.
After early January 2010, this station went into operation with the opening of the Burj Khalifa, seven other stations on the Red Line opened on 25 April 2010. The remaining 11 still lying still stations will follow in the next few months. A shortened to 6 minutes Zugtakt This is combined with introduced in the rush hour. In the first six months of operation of the Metro 12 million passengers were recorded.
1 May 2010 RTA has set some very well- used bus routes between the city center and Jebel Ali. This was justified by the fact that it was to parallel transport by metro. However, the bus routes used mainly by commuters usually had a shorter travel time than by some repeatedly to change trains extended way with integration of the metro. The protests of passengers will be explored, possibly some bus services are resumed.
In spring 2011, repeated trapping of trains during weekday rush hours there are complaints. This has led to massive breakdowns, several times because in the doors trapped passengers. The behavior of the passengers is z.T. marked by recklessness, so pushing eg too many passengers, often before disembarking guests have left the trains directly into the wagons. RTA announces to use more trains during peak hours and to take the station staff more involved in the supervisory responsibilities.
One of the police department in early 2012 published crime statistics showed that the Dubai Metro is among the safest tracks in the world: for every 1 million trips in 2011 came only 1.6 reported criminal cases, mostly small -scale crime. For comparison: London 13 cases. The approximately 900 meters from the station Burj Khalifa Dubai Mall was removed in late 2012 a covered air-conditioned connection through a highly specified footbridge. The 820 -meter-long construction transported over several moving walkways up to 13,500 pedestrians / h
Expansion stopped briefly
The involved in the construction of the Dubai Metro Japanese companies had temporarily stopped the work in early 2010. Reason were missing payments to the company, reported on 7 January 2010, the Japanese business newspaper "Nikkei ". Then put the four Japanese Konsortialfirmen a work to negotiate the payment. The sum of the unpaid bills amounted, according to Nikkei already end of October 2009 to the equivalent of 3.6 billion euros. For the remaining work to complete the red line, an agreement was reached between the RTA and contractors, which also includes further additional contributions of public funds. The opening of the Green Line has shifted over one year to September 2011. Here the will is evident in spite of financial difficulties to continue the indispensable Metro project in the core. The other two lines remain so for the time being pure planning, since by them to use the proposed new districts are also largely stopped.
According to an article in the " Financial Times ", however, the work on the Red and the Green Line were resumed on February 7, 2009, after the parties had reached agreement on the payment of an amount of about 2-3 billion U.S. dollars. In the summer of 2010, the previous peak of the metro usage has been achieved: an average of 110,000 passengers daily, peak were 130,000 trips on July 1; towards the end of 2010, with opening of new stations the day number has increased to 140,000, and 170,000 trips have been in April 2011 reached. Around 30 percent of the ordinary passengers have a car, which they leave at home or at the Metro entrance. It is reported that clearly relaxing effects on the traffic situation; However, this could be due to the for Z. generally reduced economic activity. The operators now expect after the opening of the Green Line with a doubling of passenger numbers.