Dubai Metro
During his usual ride to school the
little boy loved to question his father
on different topics that he
couldn't understand. One day he asked,"Daddy,
what is Dubai metro?" . The dad
smiled and said," it is the new railway
system under construction
dear"
'I wonder
where they are going to put the train…..the train cannot be
put on land or water …because… of
……traffic jam….…..Oh! I would love
to see it in the sky!!!
it will be so nice that I can throw
my homework....and chips covers down
the window!!!...in either case
people will think its raining trash!!
"You know what! Putting the train
in the sky is exactly what the
authorities are doing!!!...too bad
it has sealed windows….
someone might have warned them
against raining question papers!
But I promise, you will see them
moving in the sky soon!
'Really! That's
fantastic! How do they look like? the son was so eager to
know the details. Father started
explaining him the metro
''They are driverless and fully
automatic. There are two railway tracks.
The Red and Green Lines are under
construction which is almost finished,
and further lines are planned in
the coming phases. These first two lines
will run underground in the
city and on elevated viaducts elsewhere.
The Dubai Metro will be the longest
fully automated rail system in the
world when it opens on 9th
September 2009. The trains and stations
will be air conditioned with
platform edge doors to make this possible"
"The longest! Wow that's
nice!! '' the son exclaimed.
"With the Blue Line to follow the
Purple Line, Dubai RTA expects 318km of metro lines to
be in operation by
2020."
But what is the need of a train
when we have so many cars and buses?"
" Its mainly because of the
population .The combination of a rapidly-growing
population ( expected to reach 3
million by 2017) and severe traffic congestion
necessitated the building of an
urban rail system to provide additional public
transportation capacity, relieve
motor traffic, and provide infrastructure for
additional
development."
"What do you mean by
'phase'?'
"There are various phases for
construction .The first phase covers 35 kilometers
(22 mi) of the proposed network,
including the Red Line between Al Rashidiya
and the Jebel Ali Free Zone set for
completion by September 2009 and the Green
Line from Al Qusais 2 to Al Jaddaf
1. This is to be completed by March 2010.
A second phase
contract was subsequently signed in
July 2006 and includes extensions to the initial routes."
"You, said it's the longest-how long is it?" "Very long!
When completed, Dubai Metro will have a total of 70
kilometers
of lines, and 47 stations (including 9
underground stations). Two lines are
getting
completed,
and two more are planned."
"They do sound luxurious. How do
they work?"
"They are designed to carry 643
seated and standing passengers, and unusually for a mass transit system, the
trains will have three classes of accommodation: Gold Class, Silver Class (Women
and Children), and regular. The first train was delivered to Dubai in March
2008.The metro will have driverless operation and use third rail current
collection. Trained wardens will accompany passengers to help with
emergencies."
"How fast would they
go?"
"Maximum speed of the trains will
be 90 km/h, giving a round-trip time of 2 h 23 min for the Red Line and 1 h 23
min for the Green Line."
"How many people can travel in
it?"
"Red Line trains will initially run
every 7 min off-peak, with a minimum headway of 3 min 45 sec provided during the
peaks, when 38 trainsets will be in service. From 2010, when 51 trains will be
in service, the line will have a peak-hour capacity of 11 675 passengers/h in
each direction. The theoretical maximum design capacity is 25 720 passengers/h,
which would require 106 trains."
"The Green Line will have an
initial capacity of 6 395 passengers/h per direction, with 16 trains in service.
The design capacity of this route is put at 13 380 passengers/h, with 60 trains
in service."
"What about the other two
roads?"
"The other two lines are blue and
purple lines. Blue line is about 47km and run along Emirates Road,
exact route is currently not known. Purple line is 49 kilometers (30 mi) line
along Al Khail Road, meant to be an express route between Dubai International
Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport."
"its wonderful dad I wish to travel
in the metro. Will I be going to school in metro after sometime? I hope I
can but may be during my college days. Atleast I can dream a free road then
right? Oh today we reached the school very fast dad
" Thank you dad , bye"
'' see you
sweety".
Compiled by
Keerthi Jerome
D/O Dr.Mary Lourde 1983 Elec
