UAE: Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority has selected a Keolis-led consortium to operate and maintain its metro and light rail networks for nine years with options for up to a further six.
Under the contract announced on March 20, the Keolis-MHI consortium of Keolis (70%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering (25%) and Mitsubishi Corp (5%) will replace Serco from September as operator of Dubai’s 79 km, three-line metro network and its 10∙6 km Al-Sufouh light rail line. The agreement is worth approximately €125m per year to the Franco-Japanese partners.
‘We are keen on ensuring the highest standards of operation, maintenance, security and safety for the metro and tram riders and achieving competitive performance indicators of operation and punctuality of journeys’, commented RTA Director-General Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer. ‘According to the contract, the consortium shall undertake the operation and maintenance services of the Dubai metro Red and Green lines as well as Route 2020. It will also cater to the operation of Dubai Tram, and all assets of the metro and tram networks including trains, control centres, stations and the associated infrastructure.’
‘We are honoured to have been selected, along with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering and Mitsubishi Corporation, by RTA to operate and maintain Dubai’s sophisticated driverless metro system and catenary-free tram system’, added Keolis Group CEO Marie-Ange Debon. ‘Keolis boasts extensive experience in managing automated metro and tram networks, and we look forward to nurturing a collaborative partnership with RTA to deliver their vision of smart, sustainable and convenient public transportation for the city.’
