Dubai Tram project the beginning of Rail Master Plan
Phase II of project to extend to Mall of the Emirates and Burj Al Arab, acting CEO of Rail Agency says
Phase II of the Dubai Tram project will extend an additional 5 kilometres and will include seven new stations.
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Dubai’s Rail Master Plan will see the current Dubai Tram project extend for a further five kilometres and seven stations, as part of Phase II of the project, the acting CEO of the Rail Agency, RTA, has said in an exclusive interview with Big Project Middle East.
Abdullah Yousef Al Ali explained that Phase II will see the Dubai Tram run to Mall of the Emirates on Sheikh Zayed Road and Burj Al Arab on Jumeirah Road.
“The RTA has developed a comprehensive Rail Master Plan that responds to the current and future needs of Dubai. The plan has adopted some proposals for new rail lines (metro and tram), as well as the future extension of some existing lines,” he told Big Project ME.
“In this domain, the current Dubai Tram project of 10.6km, which extends between Dubai Marina and the Tram Depot near the Police Academy, represents Phase I of the project. Phase II will be extended for a further five kilometres and seven stations for both lines,” he added.
On January 25, 2014 the RTA announced that testing on the $1.02 billion project would begin, with the first zone nearly completed and ready for operation. The second stage of testing has been pencilled in to start on April 16, Al Ali said.
Testing on zone three – that which connects Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Beach Residence – is due to begin on June 14.
The Dubai Tram project is expected to further consolidate the public transport image in Dubai and help improve the accessibility and mobility within Dubai in general, and the new leisure and business districts in particular, Abdullah Yousef Al Ali said.
“Building of some of the Tram stations near the Metro stations was intended to provide a direct link and transfer of passengers between the two modes of public transport. The Dubai Metro project comes as part of the RTA’s strategic plan, which aims to develop an efficient, integrated, multimodal public transport network for Dubai.”