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More trains, 3-track platform on Route 2020

Dubai - The Route 2020 project will begin from Nakheel Harbour and Tower Metro Station on the Dubai Metro's Red Line and will extend 15km.

Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) hopes to begin work on the "Route 2020" metro expansion project in the second half of 2016, according to a senior RTA official.
Speaking at the 11th annual Mena Rail and Metro Summit in Dubai, Shahrin Abdol Salam, chief engineer of Rail Operations at RTA, said that preparations for construction are in their final stages.
"If Allah wills...in January we will have the main contractor on board...in the second half of the year, we'll start the project."
The Route 2020 project will begin from Nakheel Harbour and Tower Metro Station on the Dubai Metro's Red Line and will extend 15km, comprising seven additional stations - five elevated and two underground. The areas through which the metro expansion will run - such as Discovery Gardens, Furjan, Jumeirah Golf Estate and the Dubai Investment Park - are inhabited by approximately 224,000 people. RTA officials say that the route will take passengers from Dubai Marina to the Expo 2020 site in 16 minutes, and that the project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020.
In his remarks, Salam said: "Some of the changes that we have incorporated into the design for Expo 2020 is to look into...the width of the platform and the location of the escalators and the lifts," he said. Additionally, Salam said that the Expo station will have one more track than the existing metro stations, and additional trains will have to be added to the system.
"One of the major change from the first basis of design to what goes up for tender is the Expo station. The original design calls for dual-track platforms, just like the stations that you see in JLT or Damac," he said. "But after careful evaluation of the operational requirements and the contingency planning.we changed the design into a three-track platform."
Other participants at the summit include Dr Abdullah bin Mohammed Balhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Public Works; and Salem Ali Al Zaabi, Director-General of the UAE Federal Transport Authority,
bernd@khaleejtimes.com

METRO EXPANSION FACTFILE
> Work will begin during second half of 2016
> Metro line will begin from Nakheel Harbour and Tower Metro Station and will extend 15km with 7 new stations
> It will take passengers from Dubai Marina to the Expo 2020 site in 16 minutes