As The National reports today, the Dubai Metro system is celebrating its fifth birthday, after 10 of the metro's stations were inaugurated on September 9, 2009 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The network has since grown to 47 stations and, according to official data, welcomed more than 40 million passengers onto its trains in the first quarter of this year. In a relatively short period of time, the driverless train system has become one of the drivers of the emirate.
All of this is a testament to the stewardship of the Roads and Transport Authority and the emirate’s vision. It is also in marked contrast to the criticism levelled at the network on the eve of its opening: many doubted the Arabian Gulf’s first urban train system would ever seriously crack Dubai’s car culture and some questioned the cost of the project, particularly as the effects of the global financial crisis were still rumbling in the autumn of 2009.
How wrong those doubters were. The Dubai Metro is now rightly hailed as one of the most advanced urban transport systems in the world. It is clean, efficient and popular – as those who board its crowded trains at peak times will almost certainly testify.
