DUBAI// The two remaining stations on the Metro Green Line will finally be opened this Saturday.
Once the Al Jadaf and Creek stations are active, it means that the Roads and Transport Authority has opened all its completed stations thus far.
“Al Jadaf and Creek stations, which are located at the end of the Green Line track, serve existing projects and others under construction, such as the Culture Village and Sama Al Jadaf, and they will also serve the Dubai Festival City through operating a marine transit service linking with the Creek station,” said Mattar Al Tayer, chairman and executive director of the RTA.
A marine transport station is in the works to link with the Creek Metro station and will be located within walking distance of the Metro. Festival City already has marine transport stations operating the Water Taxi.
The Creek station is located across Dubai Creek from Festival City and next to Al Jadaf marine industrial area.
“I don’t think opening this station will do us any good,” said Ahmad Al Marri, who runs his father’s Bin Touq Marine, a marine-vessel accessories store. “I hope it will help, because we really do need the help, but I really doubt it will. This station is not for us, it’s for the new projects in the area, like Culture Village,” said the 24-year-old Emirati.
Mr Al Marri said business had suffered since the economic crisis, but had picked up a bit. “We lost land that we were using to repair boats to the Green Line when they first built it, then it just sat there unused for all this time. Now I think it’s too little too late. But I hope I’m wrong, I really do.”
Al Jadaf station is located across Al Khail road from Al Jadaf.
“Al Wasl Club will also be linked with Al Jadaf station through a bus route to be operated when matches are held,” Mr Al Tayer said. “The RTA has provided 100 parking slots at Al Jadaf station, besides providing a bus route to serve passengers of the two stations.”
Operating the two stations will contribute significantly to the development of the neighbourhood, Mr Al Tayer said, and would lead to an increase in passenger numbers from the stations.
“The daily ridership of Al Jadaf station is forecast as 2,100 a day, whereas the Creek station is expected to be used by about 1,400 riders every day. However, these numbers are poised to double up exponentially with the opening of property development projects, some of which are nearing completion,” he said.
“Festival City is located too far away from the city, I’m sure that getting a link with the Metro will help bring people to us,” said Varum Makhija, assistant manager at the Royal Orchid restaurant on the Festival City promenade. “We get plenty of footfall on the weekends, but during the week we could use more people, more business.”
“I think it is about time we got public transport to this mall,” said Raquel De Souza, 28, a sales clerk who works at Festival City.
“I live in Satwa, it is quite a drive to get here every day. If we have a Metro link I will use it all the time. It is cheaper and less headache.”
She said her company provided bus transport, but traffic means it takes too long to commute.
“If they just pick us up and drop us off at the Metro it is much better,” she said.
The RTA and Dubai Metro operator Serco have completed all testing of the two stations including technical test runs, the communication systems, automatic operation systems, power feed system, and the air-conditioning.
It has also hired 16 employees to staff the two stations and they have already been deployed at site.
Al Jadaf and Creek stations are both elevated metro stations. Each has a capacity to handle 11,000 passengers an hour in both directions.
malkhan@thenational.ae
