The Dubai Metro is a rapid transit rail network in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is currently operated by the French company Keolis. The Red Line and Green Line are operational, with a major 15 km (9.3 mi) extension to the Red Line known as Route 2020 to the Expo 2020 site announced in April 2015 and opened in 2021. These first two lines run underground in the city centre and on elevated viaducts elsewhere. All trains are fully automated and driverless, and, together with stations, are air conditioned with platform edge doors. Architecture firm Aedas designed the metro's 45 stations, two depots and operational control centers. The Al Ghurair Investment group were the metro's builders.The first section of the Red Line, covering 10 stations, was ceremonially inaugurated at 9:09:09 pm on 9 September 2009, by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, with the line opening to the public at 6 am (UTC 04:00) on 10 September. The Dubai Metro is the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula and either the second in the Arab World (after the Cairo Metro) or the third (if the surface-level, limited-service Baghdad Metro is counted).
More than 110,000 people, or nearly 10 percent of Dubai's population, used the Metro in its first two days of operation. The Dubai Metro carried 10 million passengers from launch on 9 September 2009 to 9 February 2010 with 11 stations operational on the Red Line. Engineering consultancy Atkins provided full multidisciplinary design and management of the civil works on Dubai Metro.Until 2016, the Dubai Metro was the world's longest driverless metro network with a route length of 75 kilometres (47 mi), as recognized by Guinness World Records in 2012. The system was surpassed by the Vancouver SkyTrain in 2016 for the longest fully automated system in the world but regained the title in 2021 with the opening of Route 2020. However, its total route length have since been surpassed by the automated lines of the Singapore MRT. Nevertheless, the Red Line, at 52.1 kilometres (32.4 mi), remains the world's longest driverless single metro line.
2009Sep, 9
The Dubai Metro, the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula, is ceremonially inaugurated.
Choose Another Date
Events on 2009
- 26Jan
2009 Malagasy political crisis
Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina. - 29Jan
Rod Blagojevich corruption charges
Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is removed from office following his conviction of several corruption charges, including the alleged solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the United States Senate as a replacement for then-U.S. president-elect Barack Obama. - 12Jun
2009 Iranian election protests
A disputed presidential election in Iran leads to wide-ranging local and international protests. - 4Jul
September 11 attacks
The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks. - 5Nov
2009 Fort Hood shooting
U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan murders 13 and wounds 32 at Fort Hood, Texas in the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. military installation.