Dubai will be getting a second Etihad Rail station, a senior official in Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority confirmed to The National on Monday.
The next passenger station will be in Dubai's Meydan and will connect to the coming Dubai Metro Gold Line. The timeline and exact location are unknown, but this confirms a map issued by the RTA when the Gold Line was announced.
Etihad Rail has “a future plan to open new stations – one additional station in Dubai, plus they have a plan to build a high-speed railway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai”, said Abdul Muhsen Kalbat, chief executive of the Rail Agency and a member of the RTA board.
“One of the future stations is in Meydan. We've planned it to be integrated with our Gold Line station,” Mr Kalbat added.
The station will bring the national rail service much closer to Dubai's centre, increasing commuters' travel options. Integration is at the heart of future plans, the chief executive said.
“We will provide not only integration with Dubai Metro as a mass transit system, but there will be integration between rail with buses and micromobility such as cycling and walkways. Integration is important to provide an excellent journey for the passengers,” Mr Kalbat said.
He said that Nol card integration with Etihad Rail was ready to be implemented.
“We will have integration between Etihad Rail and our Nol system is aimed to provide better experience for the passenger moving from one system to another.”
Strengthening ties with East
Mr Kalbat was speaking at a media briefing on Monday to announce a new rail conference in Dubai next year. The RailX Dubai International Rail Conference will be held from May 31 to June 2 under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence.
Mr Kalbat believes it will be a significant opportunity for regional and global investment.
“Globally, there is a tremendous amount of investment going towards developing railway projects. Globally, more than $6 trillion will be invested in the railway sector. In [the] GCC, there are more than $200 billion projects undergoing, whether those are in planning, design or implementation stages.”
The conference aims to make partnerships with firms from the East and West, with a strong focus on China. CRRC Corporation Limited, a Chinese state-owned rolling stock manufacturer, has already partnered for the conference.
“With such big projects, many of the global partners … have come with a wealth of expertise, and CRRC is one of our partners working with us on the [Dubai Metro] Blue Line,” Moaza Al Marri, chief executive of the RTA's Executive Affairs Sector and head of the organising committee for RailX, told The National.
“It is important because it opens doors to a wealth of companies that are in China and given the size of China, that is enough to complete the delegation target that we have for this conference, which is 5,000.”
Plans on track
Despite regional challenges affecting supply lines, the RTA remains committed to its rail master plan timings and said no delays were expected for the two metro lines under construction. The Blue Line is currently at 24 per cent completion according to Mr Kalbat, and will open on September 9, 2029.
“We do not compromise on the delivery of any projects,” he said. “That's the philosophy of RTA. We are committed to deliver all the projects on time. So yes, challenges always happen, but we are very flexible to manage those challenges.”
The Gold Line will open on September 9, 2032, expanding the Dubai Metro network by 82 per cent.
“We are planning to release the tender … before the end of this year. And hopefully we'll be awarding the winning contractor by the end of next year, and the construction will start,” Mr Kalbat said.
Mr Kalbat also spoke for the first time about the Airport Express line, which will eventually connect Dubai International Airport (DXB) to Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC).
The Airport Express Line will be 55 kilometres long and consist of five stations. From the Dubai Metro Red Line station at DXB, the line will travel through Al Jaddaf and along Al Khail Road, stopping at Jumeirah Village Circle's imminent Gold Line Metro station, before it terminates at the other end of Dubai at DWC in Dubai South.
Two offshoots will connect areas to the line at Jumeirah Village Circle Metro station. One station will be in Business Bay, while the other will connect to Al Fardan Exchange Metro station near Dubai Marina.
Mr Kalbat confirmed that the work for the line had been tendered. He said the line would need a couple of years' study before work begins to connect it to the other transport systems.
“We've released a tender for appointing an international consultant to start the study stage for the Airport Express line, as well as the extension of the Red Line to Al Maktoum Airport,” he said.
Public transport is future
With the multitude of rail projects in the pipeline, the vision for Dubai's future is clear to Ms Al Marri: public transport takes centre stage. She sees Dubai's transport landscape as “smart, autonomous and fast”.
“The future is public transport, not roads,” she said. “No matter how many roads you will build, the cars will fill them.”
She added: “The solution for sustainability of transport in the future is moving people from using cars to public transport, but that will only happen when public transport is convenient. The authorities put a lot of effort in order to make it comfortable, seamless, and financially accessible by all types of people.”
