Flashback: 371 days to go

Constructing the metro has been a major undertaking

There is a straight forward message pinned to the wall at Union Station, the largest of Dubai's metro stations. "Failure is not an option," it says. "371 days remaining to revenue service."

The same message is pinned to the wall at the Jebel Ali station. It's a fair bet that wherever you go on the under-construction Dubai Metro project, you're never far from the message.

The previous day, it was approaching 2pm in the centre of Dubai. At mid-afternoon, traffic was relatively light. But this would quickly change. The masses were about to finish work.

”It is good now,” said one of Dubai's taxi drivers. “But wait five or 10 minutes, and you will have serious traffic jams everywhere.”

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The taxi drivers of Dubai are a long-suffering breed. On the same day, a different driver told of a 2½ hour trip to Sharjah at rush hour. A journey that, in light traffic, should have taken around 30 minutes.

It was against this backdrop that the project every taxi driver has been waiting for arose. And the client? None other than the taxi driver's employer - the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

When the Dubai Metro project was announced by the Government of Dubai in 2004, it was becoming abundantly clear to the highest office in the land that in order for the city to compete on the global stage in tourism and commerce, it was high time to bring some much needed relief to the choked streets.

Construction of the metro began in January 2005. In typical Dubai style, things were not done in half measures. The RTA laid out its plans for the biggest driverless metro system in the world, and the longest metro track ever to be constructed from scratch.

The main contractor is Dubai Rapid Link (DURL), a consortium of Japanese firms. By its very nature, construction of the project presented a daunting task from inception.

”The biggest challenge was the diversion of traffic without causing hindrance and affecting the traffic flow,” says Adnan Al Hammadi, director of rail projects construction.

It became possible to walk the length of the red line from beginning to end, three days ahead of schedule. This was quite a feat in a city where materials shortages were never far from the headlines. Then again, if you need to ensure the job gets done, it no doubt helps to name drop the Government of Dubai: a sign that if something needs to get done, it will happen.

The track itself will be familiar to anyone who has driven along Sheikh Zayed Road. Likened by some to a roller-coaster, it climbs above and dives below existing bridges, snaking along much of Dubai's main thoroughfare, and threading through the city's existing infrastructure.

The designers went over bridges where possible to avoid the hazard of debris falling from above. In a driverless system, track obstructions can pose serious problems.

At the Burjuman shopping centre, the track dives below ground, tunneling under Dubai Creek. The system will also include a "leaky feed", allowing passengers to make and receive mobile phone calls from underground.

Footbridges have been installed overnight with the help a self propelled mobile transporter, an immense Japanese-built machine. The bridges are air-conditioned, and fitted with conveyors. This is Dubai. Why walk when you can travelate?

Al Hammadi believes the metro will be enough to prise residents of Dubai from the seats of their cars when combined with broad improvements in the public transport network.

“The RTA's main objective is to upgrade the transport infrastructure as a whole,” he said.

“The metro will serve as a key connector linking to Dubai International Airport. Provision for park and ride facilities near the terminals and at strategic locations along the railway route, will also promote the use of the metro.”

The five-carriage metro trains can carry a maximum of 1017 passengers each, and can run with 90 second intervals at peak travel times.

All stops have been pulled out to ensure the metro is running on time. Despite the urgency, the project maintained a good safety record. A safety consultant engaged on the project told us:

“We have a record of 1.14 lost time accidents (an accident that causes the worker to be absent for four days) per million man hours.”

To put this in perspective, Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 project in the UK suffered three lost time accidents per million man hours. One lost time accident per million man hours is the desired ratio.

When all complete, each of the 47 stations will fit into one of four themes - earth, air, fire or water. Stations are one of three types - underground, ground level, or elevated.

One of the earliest to be completed was the station at Jebel Ali Industrial. Built around the water theme, the station is nearby the Jebel Ali depot, which houses a portion of the rolling stock. Others will be stationed at Al Rashidya.

Al Hammadi says that Dubai Metro will "compare favourably" to global models including Singapore and Hong Kong. He appears to have done his sums. “Introduction of the metro will help reduce the traffic congestion by 17%,” he assured.