DUBAI METRO
Posted on 06 December 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
The first part of the $US3.4 billion Dubai metro – the first urban railway in the Arabian Peninsula – opened on 9 September 2009, though only 10 stations were operational for the official inauguration. (The 19 remaining stops on the Red Line are expected to open by February 2010.) Confused would-be travellers queued outside stations for hours on the opening day, unaware that operations were not going to start until the unusual hour of 14:00. Nearly 110,000 people – 10% of Dubai’s population – tried out the driverless, fully automated network within the first two days. The figure climbed to almost 367,000 within the first week.
A number of technical glitches were reported during the first week, including an incident on the first day the metro was open to the general public when a pneumatic cable snapped, causing a fully-loaded train to stall for more than two hours. In another incident, passengers who activated emergency buttons caused a train to switch to manual mode and stop running at the next station.
If all goes according to plan, the Dubai metro will be the world’s longest automated metro network.
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