UAE: Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority has awarded the contract for construction of the metro network’s Blue Line to a Turkish-Chinese consortium comprising civil works contractors Mapa and Limak with railway systems supplier CRRC.
The project is valued at 20·5bn dirhams, with construction to begin in April 2025 for opening on September 9 2029, the 20th anniversary of Dubai’s first metro line.
The international tender attracted technical and financial proposals from five alliances comprising 15 companies, and three consortia advanced to the final stage.
Route
The 30 km Blue Line will have two routes totalling 15·5 km of underground and 14·5 km of elevated alignment, including a 1·3 km long bridge across the Dubai Creek.
One 21 km route branch with 10 stations will start at Al Khor Interchange on the Green Line in Al Jaddaf and run through Dubai Festival City, Dubai Creek Harbour and Ras Al Khor to International City 1, Dubai Silicon Oasis and Dubai Academic City.
The 9 km second route with four stations will begin at Centrepoint Interchange on the Red Line in Al Rashidiya and run through Mirdif and Al Warqaa to International City 1.
The Blue Line will have a capacity of 46 000 passengers/direction/h with trains every 2 min. It is expected to serve nearly 200 000 passengers/day by 2030, rising to 320 000 passengers/day by 2040.
RTA Director General & Chairman Mattar Al Tayer said the ‘iconic’ Dubai Creek Harbour station designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill would be ‘distinguished by its unique architectural design that embodies Dubai’s forward-thinking vision’. International City 1 will have the largest underground interchange station on the metro network, with a capacity of 350 000 passengers/day.
The project includes a depot in Al Ruwaiyah.
‘Remarkable success’
‘The project builds on the remarkable success of the Dubai Metro since its inauguration on September 9 2009’, Al Tayer said when the contract was announced on December 19. ’As the backbone of Dubai’s transportation network and the preferred choice for residents and visitors, the Dubai Metro now accommodates over 850 000 riders daily and has transported nearly 2·5 billion riders since its launch. It currently accounts for 60% of all public transport users in the emirate.
‘The new Blue Line aligns with the objectives of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 and the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan, reinforcing Dubai’s vision to become the world’s best city to live in.’ It also supports the 20 Minute City initiative to ensure more than 80% of essential services and amenities are accessible within a 20 min commute.
The Blue Line is projected to yield 2·6 dirhams in economic, social and environmental benefits for every dirham invested by 2040, including savings in time, fuel consumption, accident-related fatalities and carbon emissions. It is predicted to reduce traffic congestion on key corridors by 20% and boost the value of land and properties surrounding its stations by up to 25%.
It will be the first transport project in Dubai to comply with platinum-grade green building standards.
