Dubai Metro hit with more delays

Dubai Metro hit with more delays

The Green Line, the metro’s Phase 2, will open at the end of 2010, and the Red Line is unlikely to be fully operational until mid-2010.

September 17, 2009 12:50 by kippreport

The Road and Transport Authority (RTA) postponed the launch of Dubai Metro’s Green Line to the end of 2010, reported Emirates Business on Thursday.

“We expect the Green Line to open by the end of 2010 because the contractor … is unable to complete the work due to changes and an extension in the length of the line,” Abdul Majid al-Khaja, CEO of the Rail Agency at Dubai’s the RTA told the UAE daily.

The 34km Green Line, which had already been postponed by three months from March to June 2010, is Dubai Metro’s second line. It was originally set to span 17km between Bur Dubai and Deira, but has since been expanded considerably. The RTA suggested the line may extend to International City.

The Dubai Metro has already suffered delays with its inaugural Red Line. Only 10 of the 29 stations were ready for the metro’s highly publicized launch on September 9. The remaining 19 stations were scheduled for a February opening, but al-Khaja conceded the RTA may not meet that deadline. He said the Red Line may be fully operational by May 2010.

The metro’s planned Purple and Blue lines, which run between Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali and Dubai International Airport, and were due for completion in 2012, will also be delayed due to the financial crisis.

“We have done some studies in the past, but after the global crisis, everything changed. Now we have to revisit our evaluation; we have to revisit the location of our stations; how far… it is still in a study stage,” he told Emirates Business.