Jafza Metro station to open on March 11

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced on Saturday that the Jebel Ali Freezone Area (Jafza) station would open on that day.

The Metro is expected to attract at least 10 per cent of the 129,000 employees from the industrial behemoth of which around 40,000 reside within the gated area.The employees, majority of them blue collar workers, have been struggling to travel in and out of Jafza particularly after the launch of the Metro Red Line in September 2009.

Khaleej Times had reported the plight of the commuters several times over the past year. The cancellation of two direct bus routes, 90 and 91, since the start of Metro in 2009, had put the commuters under great difficulties. And they have been urging the authorities to either open the Jebel Ali Metro station or re-start the cancelled bus routes.

With the opening of the Jafza station and the launch of feeder routes within Jafza, commuters hope their travel woes will be solved.

“We have been waiting for this day since September 2009, thousands of people like me who are dependent on public transport would be relieved,” said Joy Sorento, a Filipino secretary who travels daily from Karama to Jafza.

Echoing Sorento, was Mohammed Aqeel, who used to depend on bus No 92 to travel from Bur Dubai to Jafza.

“I tried the Metro before but found it both time-consuming as well as tiring as I had to change buses on either side of the Metro trip. So I opted for the bus, which was also not very convenient. Now, with the opening of the Jafza station, I hope things will change.”

Jafza station is one of the last three stations on the Red Line waiting to be opened. It will be the 27^th station to serve passengers out of the total 29 on the Red Line. Jafza will be the first station to open after the launch of five stations — Jumeirah Lake Towers, Nakheel, Sharaf DG, First Gulf Bank and Business Bay — in October.Jafza measures about 132 meters in length and 29 meters in width and has a total capacity of handling 11,000 passengers per hour per direction, which makes it one of the biggest stations on the Red Line.

“We are expecting an addition of at least 10,000 passengers to the Metro from the station initially. Since a lot of people from the area already use Metro through the Ibn Batuta station, who will be diverted to the Jebel Ali Industrial Station from Friday, we hope there won’t be a mad rush during the first few days,” said Ramdan Abdulla, director of Metro Operations in RTA’s 
Rail Agency.

He, however, added that the RTA is prepared for any kind of increase in demand. “We know the rush will increase once the word spreads about the convenience of using the Metro from Jafza. We are prepared to handle any sort of pressure.”

As reported earlier by Khaleej Times, the authorities have meticulously planned the four feeder bus routes covering the entire Jafza.

More than 24 buses are ready to serve people through around 50 stations located across the Jafza North, South and the central areas.

shafaat@khaleejtimes.com