Al Tayer Explores Coop, Exchange Of Expertise With British Official

Roads & Transport Authority – Mohammed Al Munji: H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA), has recently received Lord Marland: Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in the UK, in the presence of H.E. Dominic Jermey: British Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and Mohammad Obaid Al Mulla: Board Member of the RTA, and several directors in the RTA.

At the outset of the meeting, H.E. Mattar Al Tayer welcomed the British official and praised the partnership & cooperative relationships linking the RTA with the British agencies and businesses operating in the field of roads & transport, particularly citing that there are as much as 16 British companies undertaking projects in various RTA agencies & sectors.

"We have extensive partnership relationships with a host of British agencies," said Al Tayer who elaborated saying: "In March 2008 the RTA signed a contract with Serco to undertake the operation & maintenance of the Dubai Metro systems on both the Red and Green Lines. In November 2006, the RTA signed an agreement with Lloyd’s Register; a specialist firm in security, safety and occupational health systems as well as the inspection of industrial facilities. In September 2009, the RTA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UK Office of Rail Regulation (ORR); the first of its kind in the Middle East between two government entities concerned with transport & mobility sector. In 2010, the RTA signed an agreement with the British Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) to train a bunch of fresh graduate Emirati engineers to qualify them for the full membership of the ICE. In October this year, the RTA signed a cooperative agreement with Transport for London (TfL) to boost cooperation, exchange information related to transport & mobility, offer advice on designing rail, bus and taxi stations, address the requirements of special needs in mass transit means & services, train engineers on the field of transportation, and cooperate in compiling studies for assessing the level 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; with the Red Line operated on 9/9/2009 and the Green Line launched on 9/9/2011. "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 at 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," explained Al Tayer.

"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 isolate 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.

At the end of the meeting, Lord Marland was hugely impressed with the Dubai Metro and the affluent designs of the metro stations and carriages; which has contributed to attracting passengers from all spectrums of the community. He also expressed 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 gathering the two parties exchanged mementos and Al Tayer presented RTA trophy to the British delegation.
 

Emirate:  Dubai

Date: Nov 23, 2011

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