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09:09:09: Dubai heralds the dawn of Gulf rail rush: this month sees a milestone for the development of railways in the Gulf region with the opening of Dubai's first metro line. Keith Barrow traces the history of this remarkable project.

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DESPITE the economic downturn, the pace of development in Dubai is presenting the emirate with a vast demographic challenge. Between 1995 and 2005 the population almost doubled from 674,000 to 1.2 million, and it is expected to reach 5.2 million by 2030.

In the 1990s the Dubai government recognised that investment in an efficient transport system would be essential if the city was to sustain this meteoric rate of growth. According to the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), traffic congestion now costs the economy Dirhams 4.16 billion ($US 524 million) per year, more than 3% of Dubai's GDP. There are 541 cars per 1000 people, far higher than cities like London and New York, and without investment in public transport, there would be 5.3 million vehicles on the streets of Dubai by 2020.

The urgent need to manage these issues spawned Dubai's ambitious surface transport plan which stipulates major investment in public transport. At the core of this plan is the initial Dirhams 16.5 billion phase of the metro network which, in keeping with the ethos of the city it serves, has been delivered with breathtaking speed.

In May 2005, RTA awarded the Dirhams 12.5 billion contract for construction of the Red Line to Dubai Rapid Link (DRL), a consortium of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; Obayashi, Japan; Kajima Corporation, Japan; Yapi Merkezi, Turkey; Capital Symonds; and a joint venture of Systra and Parsons. A year later, RTA exercised a Dirhams 4 billion option from the Red Line deal for DRL to build the 23.9km Green Line.

The 52.1km Red Line from Jafza/Limitless to Rashidiya...