Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced that work was progressing at a steady pace on the entire Route 2020 Project, which is the extension of the Red Line of Dubai Metro to the Expo 2020 site.
The line extends 15 km from Nakheel Harbor and Tower Station (11.8 km of elevated track, and 3.2 km of the underground track).
On the project’s progress, RTA said more than 80 percent on the rail track work and 50 to 60 percent of the station works of Route 2020 Project had been completed.
The viaduct construction work had also been completed spanning 11.8 km, revealed Mattar Al Tayer, the director-general and chairman of the board of executive directors of RTA.
He was speaking to the media after an inspection tour of several stations including Expo, Al Furjan and Nakheel Harbor and Tower stations.
He later attended a briefing by AbdulMohsin Ibrahim Younes, CEO of Rail Agency, and Abdul Redha Abu Al Hasan, executive director of Rail Planning and Projects Development.
Al Tayer inspected the progress of the Expo Station – one of the key stations in the project network that will handle millions of visitors as it is the main link to the Expo site.
The station has been meticulously designed to ensure accessibility and smooth operations at all times. The multi-level structure of the station comprises a ground floor, mezzanine, concourse, and a train platform level.
It will serve the Expo 2020 site and the surroundings as it extends from Expo Village and Expo Mall to the West, and to Expo Yard towards the East.
The central corridor at the concourse level links pedestrian movement between the two sides of the station. It has been designed to handle the expected number of riders during the period of Expo 2020, said the statement from RTA.
The station has a capacity of 522,000 passengers per day in both directions, at a rate of 29,000 passengers per hour per direction, it stated.
The completion rate of the Expo Station has exceeded 50 percent, and more than 90 percent of the metal structures of the station has been installed, it added.
Al Tayer said work is in progress on the installation of the winged metal structure of the station, and more than 30 per cent of electromechanical works have been completed.
The RTA chief also inspected the progress at Al Furjan station, where external cladding works have been completed.
“The installation of the metal structure and roof cladding has been completed, while the progress on electromechanical works has reached 25 percent. The architectural finishing works on the station’s lobby are currently under way,” noted Al Tayer.
He also inspected progress on Nakheel Harbour and Tower Station – a transfer station between Dubai Metro Red Line and Route 2020. It has a design typical of the existing metro stations to maintain the identity and appearance of stations on Sheikh Zayed Road.
“More than 50 percent work on the station is over including the installation of the metal structure. Work is currently under way on the roof cladding,” said Al Tayer.
Preparations are being made for the installation of the footbridge linking the station with the parking area, he stated.
The new metro carriages have been arriving in Dubai since August 2018, and the construction of viaducts was completed in November last year.
All rail works of Route 2020 are scheduled for completion by May 2019. RTA will start the test-run of the metro in February 2020, he added.
TradeArabia News Service
10/03/2019
