Dubai revisiting metro expansion - official

Dubai revisiting metro expansion – official

Officials say possibility of the purple line, the blue line still present

November 28, 2010 3:26 by Reuters

Dubai metro’s second line is on track for commercial operation in August next year but further expansion plans are likely to be revised, a top official of the emirate’s rail agency said on Sunday.

“The purple line, blue line… all will be revisited again. The studies are there but when to initiate the process will be announced in 2011,” Adnan al-Hammadi, chief executive of the Rail Agency of Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority, told reporters at a conference in Abu Dhabi.

The first phase known as the Red Line began operations in September last year while phase two, the Green Line, will start in August 2011, he said.

The Red Line currently transports an average of 50,000 passengers per day, he said, adding that the Green Line is expected to carry more passengers once completed.

Dubai’s 4 billion dirhams ($1.09 billion) Al Safooh Tram project is on schedule for commercial start in late 2013 or early 2014 to serve the Marina area, the official said.

(Reporting by Stanley Carvalho, editing by Praveen Menon, Dinesh Nair)