UAE/TURKISH BUSINESS RELATIONS

UAE/TURKISH BUSINESS RELATIONS

Posts 1-2 of 2
  • Dr. Nilgün Birgören
    Dr. Nilgün Birgören    Premium Member   Group moderator
    The company name is only visible to registered members.
    Dubai Metro
    Dubai Metro, the first in the Gulf Arab region, opened to the public on September 12th creating a buzz in a city that has had little to celebrate in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

    Planned at the height of Dubai’s boom and launched in a glitzy ceremony telecast across the Gulf, it comes as the emirate grapples with slowing growth and a depleted population as thousands of jobs have been cut.
    “I’ll never take my car ever again...This is a dream come true,” said an Emirati citizen.
    The metro is another milestone for Dubai, which made a name for itself in the hey-days of an oil-fuelled boom with lavish infrastructure projects such as the world’s tallest tower and man-made islands shaped like palms.
    Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, inaugurated the metro on Wednesday night amid fireworks and a live telecast across the Gulf.
    “This is an achievement for all Arabs,” he said.
    But it may have come too late to cope with the congestion it was built to alleviate and is unlikely to see the ridership levels - 3,500 passengers per hour - projected by the transport authority for the first stage of the project.
    The first segment of the light intra-city rail, the Red Line, opened yesterday with 10 out of 29 stations operational.
    More stations will open in clusters in coming months and a second line is expected to be operational next year.
    While Dubai focused on developing its property, tourism and banking sectors, becoming the trade and tourism hub of the Middle East, its public transport lagged far behind.
    The city still relies heavily on gas-guzzling cars, with an average of three cars per family, while public transport, mainly buses, struggles to service low-income workers who make up the majority of the population with average salaries of 800 dirhams ($217.8) a month.
    The metro, which is estimated to cost 28bn dirhams ($7.62bn), or 80% more than originally planned, is expected to become the world’s longest driverless rail system.
    The cost of the metro - up to $1.76 a ride - may put off some while the idea of crossing a scorching parking lot in Dubai’s summer heat when temperatures near 50 degrees Celsius will dissuade others.
    Many residents, making up Dubai’s nouveau riche middle class, enjoy driving - or being driven - in luxury vehicles and the metro may come to be seen as the blue-collar workers mode of transport.
    After the opening ceremony, people scrambled to get their cars from the valet service.
    Amid the roar of luxury sports cars, another VIP guest waiting for his Mercedes Benz to be brought down, mused on the latest innovation in Dubai.
    “The metro’s impressive, but it’s a project for the future.”

    Source: Gulf Times
    • 15 Sep 2009, 5:41 pm
  • Dr. Nilgün Birgören
    Dr. Nilgün Birgören    Premium Member   Group moderator
    The company name is only visible to registered members.
    Re: Dubai Metro - more stations
    Dubai Metro will become more efficient with the introduction of new trains and opening of seven more stations on April 25.

    With the additional trains, the frequency of trains in one direction will be brought down to six minutes during peak hours from the current 10 minutes.

    Seven stations: New stops

    Emirates
    Airport Terminal 1
    GGICO
    Al Karama
    World Trade Centre
    Dubai Marina
    Ibn Battuta

    Travel time for passengers will also be reduced considerably as the maximum waiting time at a station will be reduced from 10 to six minutes during peak hours.

    The existing trains run a 10-minute headway between trains at the rate of six trains per hour with an intake of 3,858 passengers per hour in each direction.

    An official at the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said that the train stopping time at the stations will also be revised to reduce the journey time.

    At present, a train stops for a maximum of two minutes at some stations.

    With the increased number of stations and trains, stops will be reduced to six minutes. Around 10 to 12 trains will run per hour in each direction with an intake of around 7,700 passengers.

    The RTA is also reviewing train operating times Currently, trains operate from 6am to 11pm and from 2pm to midnight on Fridays.

    The RTA is considering extending normal operating time up to midnight and is also studying starting train operations a bit earlier on Fridays. The number of trains will also be increased from an existing 12 to at 21 or 24 with the opening of new stations.

    The RTA has already announced the opening of seven more stations, bringing the number of operational stations to 18 out of a total 29 on the Red Line. The other 11 stations will open in phases in the coming months.

    The seven new stations opening on April 25 include Emirates, Airport Terminal 1, GGICO, Al Karama, World Trade Centre, Marina and Ibn Battuta.

    The Metro has carried more than 12 million passengers since its launch on September 9 last year up to the end of March.

    Has the Metro helped reduce traffic?
    Have you faced any problems using the service?
    • 13 Apr 2010, 1:01 pm