Al Tayer Explores Coop, Exchange Of Expertise With British Minister For Transport

Roads & Transport Authority – Mohammed Al Munji: H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has recently received H.E. Mike Penning the British Minister for Transport in the presence of H.E. Guy Warrington, Consul General of the British Embassy in Dubai; Abdul Mohsin Ibrahim, CEO of Strategy & Corporate Governance; Adnan Al Hammadi, CEO of Rail Agency; and Shadi Malak, Executive Director for Commercial Affairs at Etihad Rail.

At the start of the meeting, Al Tayer welcomed the British Minister and praised the partnership & cooperative relationships linking the RTA with the British agencies and businesses operating in roads and transport field.

"We have forged extensive partnership relationships with several British companies and in March 2008 the RTA signed a contract with Serco whereby the Company attends to the operation and maintenance of the Dubai Metro system on both the Red and Green Lines. In November 2006, RTA signed an agreement with Lloyd’s Register; a Company specialized in security systems, safety, occupational health and examining industrial equipment. In September 2009, RTA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The Office of Rail Regulation in the UK; the first of its kind at the level of the Middle East between two government entities concerned with the transport and mobility, and focusing on endorsing the requisites and legislations of the rail network in order to ensure the safety of the public, passengers and employees. In 2010 RTA signed an agreement with The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE); which is one of the longest serving professional institutions in the UK for training a host of Emirati fresh graduate engineers to qualify them for the full membership of the ICE. Last October, RTA signed a cooperative agreement with the Transport for London (TfL) to support and step up the cooperation and exchange of information in the field of mobility & transport, and offer advice on areas that include designing of rail, bus and taxi stations, addressing the requirements of special need persons in public transport means & services, training engineers on mobility & transport, and cooperating in compiling studies to assess the caliber of services rendered to the public.

Al Tayer gave the British delegation a brief account of the Dubai Metro in which construction works started in July 2006. The project extends 75 km in both the Red and Green Lines and encompasses an elevated track stretching 58.7 km, and an underground track of 12.6 km in addition to a 3.3 km-long track at-grade on the Red Line only.
"The full journey on the Red Line takes 65 minutes, whereas it takes 35 minutes on the Green Line. Among the key design features of the Dubai Metro project is that it has a fully automated operational system, central air-conditioning system in all stations & attached footbridges, and auto doors to seclude passenger platforms from the rail track. The project also has three maintenance & storage depots at Al Rashidiya, Al Qusais and Jebel Ali. Each train has a capacity to take 643 passengers and comprises two types of metro carriages; a Gold Class and Silver Class in addition to an exclusive compartment for women and children.

"There are 79 trains to run the service but currently 50 trains are deployed for the daily operations offering service at 4-6 minutes frequency (headway) during peak hours, and 6-8 minutes frequency during off-peak hours. The design capacity of the metro is about 26 thousand persons per hour per direction and headway of 90 seconds; however, the currently used capacity is in the order of 37%; which illustrates the potentials of the Dubai Metro to handle the projected passengers’ growth in decades to come," elaborated Al Tayer.

For his part Shadi Malak, Executive Director for Commercial Affairs at Etihad Rail, made a short presentation about Etihad Rail, the initial phase of which was awarded in mid October 2011 linking Shah, Habshan and Al Ruwais in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi Emirate, costing about 3.3 billion dirham. He reported that the construction of the rail track under the initial phase would be carried out in two parts; the first linking Habshan and Al Ruwais to be completed in 2013, and the other linking Shah and Habshan set for completion in 2014.

"Phase I of the Project is a key component of the national rail network which will span, upon completion, 1200 km at a cost of 40 billion dirham linking all Emirates of the UAE, offering a modern, safe, effective and more sustainable transit means for transporting goods and passengers, thus opening new communication channels for local trade in the UAE; which will reflect positively on the economic growth," added Malak.

At the end of the meeting, H.E. Mike Penning the British Minister for Transport, was hugely impressed with the Dubai Metro and the affluent designs of stations and metro carriages which are capable of attracting passengers from all spectrums of the community. He also expressed his admiration of the Etihad Rail project, which would bring about a quantum shift in the field of transport across the UAE. He added that the UK would be keen on boosting the cooperative & partnership relationships between various UAE entities operating in the field of transport & mobility and their British counterparts.

At the end of the meeting the two parties exchanged mementos and Al Tayer presented RTA trophy to the British Minister for Transport.

Emirate:  Dubai

Date: Nov 9, 2011

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