Hundreds of commuters affected by Dubai Metro rush-hour delays

The Roads and Transport Authority blamed 'technical issues' for delays but gave little information to passengers about how long they would be left waiting.

DUBAI // Hundreds of commuters faced lengthy delays on Tuesday morning on Dubai Metro’s Red Line.

The Roads and Transport Authority blamed “technical issues” for delays between Rashidya and Emirates Tower stations in both directions, which had a knock-on effect to much of the network as the backlog of passengers waited to catch trains to work at the peak morning rush.

Replacement bus services were supplied by the RTA at affected stations.

The biggest gripe among Metro users was a lack of information as to what was causing the delays, or how long they were likely to be held up for, with some missing meetings as result.

An announcement of service interruptions was first made just before 6am but there was little information after that, according to Jessica Jayne, whose usual 40-minute commute from the Marina to Bur Dubai was stretched to almost an hour and a half, forcing her to miss an important meeting.

“Compared to normal metros in other major cities, Dubai is a breeze but because you are used to it operating so smoothly here, and a new train arriving every two minutes, it creates a problem when things go wrong,” she said.

“The worst thing was people were standing around at stations not knowing what was going on as there was no PA announcement to say what the delay was, or how long it would be until the next train arrived.

“I was at Marina station and the train I was expecting was delayed, then when it arrived it was too crowded to get on.

“I had to wait for the next one, and even that one was very busy but as I was already running late so I had to get on it.

“Most people were standing and there are no standing straps in the train, so it was pretty uncomfortable as people were losing their balance and bumping into each other.”

Information was available on Twitter, with the RTA announcing an alternative bus service for Dubai Metro users, if needed.

The authority apologised for the delays but would not elaborate on what “technical issues” caused the problems.