Unforgettable Journey Through Dubai Metro
Report and Pictures by Dr. Eugene D’Souza, Moodubelle
Dubai, 27 March 2010: One might have heard so much about the grandeur of Dubai or might have dreamt and imagined how the city would look like, but visiting the mega city and observing it oneself, that too travelling through the Dubai Metro is some thing just out of this world. Those who have not been to well planned and governed mega cities of the world, Dubai presents one of the most satisfying experiences as to how such cities are maintained and managed. In spite of the recent recession, Dubai has not lost its charm though a number of construction projects including two out of the three Metro lines are at different stages of progress and work on these projects has slowed down.
Dubai Metro, known as the Red Line was inaugurated on 9th September 2009 becoming the first urban metro network in the Gulf’s Arab states. This metro system is expected to ease the daily commute for thousands of the emirate’s workers. With an economy increasingly based upon financial services, air transport, property development and tourism, Dubai has a rapidly growing population with severe traffic congestion problems. The 52.1km Red Line has 29 stations, four of which are underground. There are few stations that are yet to be completed. It runs from Rashidiya to Jebel and takes around an hour to travel, with an estimated 32,000 passengers an hour.
Along with my wife, I had an opportunity to visit Dubai, thanks to Bellevision. In order to give us an experience of travelling in the Dubai Metro and observe the city on both sides as the metro train rattled through the elevated and underground viaducts, Sigfred accompanied us to the starting point of the Dubai Metro-Rashidiay.
As we entered the Rashidiay Metro Station, we could see the spick and span cleanliness of the station. After getting the tickets we went up to the platform through an elevator and halted in front of a glass barrier separating the tracks and platform which had glass-doors. As the train arrived, the glass-doors automatically opened and we entered the compartment, which was practically empty as it was the starting point. After some time an announcement was made ‘Please stand clear of the door’ and the-doors of the metro train and the glass barrier automatically closed and after few seconds the train started moving an picking up speed as the announcement of the next station was made. There was neither a driver (motorman) nor a guard on the metro train. The entire system runs automatically.
The next stop was the Airport Terminal 3 from where access is provided directly from the metro station to the airport terminal for those who wish to use it. As the train passed through I could see a number of aeroplanes of Emirates Airlines and other carriers parked as well as taking off. The Dubai Airport is very vast and busy having three terminals and is still under expansion programme.
After some distance the metro line went underground and proceeded further through four underground stations-Deira City Centre, Al Rigga, Union and Khalid Bin Waleed. The metro emerged over ground again before it reached the next station Al Zafiliya. It moved further through over ground stations-Financial Centre, Burj Khalifa and Mall of the Emirates where we got down, though the Metro train proceeded further till the Jebel Ali terminus.
On the way from Rashidiya Metro Station to Mall of the Emirates, the sight of the city of Dubai was just breathtaking. Buildings of all sizes and shapes, cluster of residential quarters, in some areas of uniform lay out and built, beautiful mosques with tall minarets, landscape on both sides of the Metro, broad roads with streams of cars of different types, beds of beautiful well groomed and maintained seasonal flowers, flyovers, etc. are something that is to be just observed personally as any kind of description of these would be in the realm of imagination. The magnificent Burj Khalifa as if touching the sky is the new land mark and pride of Dubai that can be seen as one travels by the Dubai Metro.
Getting down at Mall of the Emirates, we just walked down the sky walk that leads directly to the mall which is an altogether different world by itself. Although it features the usual amenities for a mall such a fourteen-screen movie theatre, a gaming arena and a typical variety of stores, its biggest claim to fame is the Middle East’s first indoor ski slope known as Ski Dubai. With the ski area, one of the largest in the world, the Mall of the Emirates seeks to differentiate itself from the dozen or so other newly completed malls in Dubai and the surrounding emirates.
After spending considerable time at the Mall of the Emirates we took a return Metro Train from the Mall of the Emirates station back to Rashidiya. The entire journey through the Dubai Metro was an experience of lifetime and the view of the city as we travelled through the metro was worth being captured in the camera and cherished through the remaining part of our lives.