RTA set to slash metro trip time next October

Starting next October, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is poised to reduce the trip time of the Dubai Metro Red Line by offering two services on a trial basis for a period of five months in a bid to better serve the interest of the Metro users. Adnan Al Hammadi, CEO of RTA’s Rail Agency, said: ‘The RTA always seeks to meet the needs of mass transit users, especially the Metro, by introducing new methods, alternatives and initiatives that help achieve its strategic objectives in serving the public. These endeavours are epitomized in RTA’s two new services that will go on offer next October; the first is operating four express trains on the Red Line: two to start from Al Rashidiya, and the other two from Jebel Ali stations. ‘Express Trains are to commence operations before the start of the metro’s regular service as an added service to the current trips which start at 5:30 am, and each train will stop only at the most frequently used stations, namely, Al Rashidiya, Emirates, Al Rigga, Union, Khalid bin Al Waleed, Al Karama, Al Jafiliya, Emirates towers, Noor Islamic Bank, First gulf bank, Dubai Internet City, Ibn Battuta, and Jebel Ali stations. This service option is set to reduce the trip time by 10 minutes as a maximum,’ he noted. As regards the second option, he said: ‘The second service is expected to slash the specified waiting time at less frequently used stations. This option is expected to save one minute and forty seconds of the overall trip time, from the first station to the terminal one on the Red Line.’ CEO of Rails Agency revealed that a questionnaire would be conducted to probe the opinion of the metro riders to identity the effectiveness of the service. ‘If both services prove successful, they will be applied on a permanent basis after the lapse of the specified commissioning period as we are keen on achieving our vision of Safe and Smooth Transport for All. Both services are bound to be hugely popular, given the positive results commuters will feel when experimenting the two services.’