Metrail of Switzerland has been tapped to build a new monorail system at City of Arabia, the US$5 billion (Dh18.4bn) residential, commercial and entertainment project being built in the Dubai desert. The rail network will be 6km long with dual guideway tracks and 11 stations, with the first section scheduled to be operational within the next 18 months. The monorail will be served by six dual-carriage trains. The Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group, which is developing City of Arabia, awarded the contract to Metrail to build the system at a cost of under $20 million per kilometre. The Galadari Group said this was competitive with the world's top five mass transit suppliers. "The Metrail system requires no electrical infrastructure, while its light weight allows imaginative station and guideway designs. We also specified low operation costs and Metrail's advanced technology guarantees that," said Ilyas Galadari, the chairman of the Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group. Metrail bills itself as an environmentally focused mass-transit firm and incorporates hybrid power systems and solar technology. It has built mass transit systems in Australia and is proposing to build a light rail network in Bangalore, India. Metrail's partners on the project include Frazer-Nash Research from the UK for technical design, Giugario Design of Italy for styling and engineering services, Sundaram Architects of India on civil and infrastructure design, and Scandpower of Norway for safety and verification services. Several of Dubai's largest development companies have begun investing in light rail networks to serve commuters' transport needs within their projects, as traffic and congestion constrain roads and highways throughout the emirate. City of Arabia is the latest, with other monorails planned for the Downtown Burj Dubai development from Emaar Properties, and also the Dubai Marina. At Downtown Burj Dubai, Emaar will build a 5.7km light-rail line that will cost $136m for the first phase. The system will connect with the Dubai Metro through a 1.1km section and is slated to open by the end of next year to coincide with the launch of the Dubai Metro. City of Arabia is a self-contained 20 million square foot community at the gateway to the Dubailand master-project, with a phased opening slated for the end of 2010. It will house residences as well as Restless Planet, a $300m facility with a theme park, earth science museum and planetarium. City of Arabia is located at the entrance to the much larger Dubailand, a three million square foot entertainment complex housing theme parks from Six Flags, Marvel Comics, Universal City and DreamWorks. The Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group, founded in 1998, also own Metro Taxi in Dubai, as well as several food distribution, jewellery, kitchen equipment and upholstery companies. igale@thenational.ae