Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has held a pre-bid meeting for the Dubai Metro Airport Express Line with consultants understood to be competing for work on the project.
It is understood that the RTA has requested firms to form joint ventures for the project. The firms that attended the meeting include:
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- Aecom (US)
- Arup (UK)
- ARX (Switzerland)
- AtkinsRealis (Canada)
- DB (Germany)
- Egis (France)
- Jacobs (US)
- Mott Macdonald (UK)
- Parsons (US)
- Sener (Spain)
- Surbana Jurong (Singapore)
- Systra (France)
- WSP (Canada)
The consultancy contract covers the study and design of the Airport Express Line, which will extend from the Al-Garhoud area of the city to Al-Maktoum International airport (DWC) in the Jebel Ali area. The proposed line will stretch about 55km and include five stations, providing passengers with facilities such as remote airline check-in, baggage drop-off and security screening.
Consultants have been allowed until June to submit their proposals.
The new line will run from the Red Line metro station at Dubai International airport through Al-Jaddaf, along Al-Khail Road to a new station at Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) before continuing on to DWC.
There will be two spur lines. The first will run from the new JVC station to the Al-Fardan Exchange metro station at Emirates Golf Club, while the second will branch out towards Business Bay, where another station will be built.
The new line appears to follow a similar route to the Etihad Rail high-speed railway project, which is now under construction and due to be completed by 2030.
Route 2020 extension
The Airport Express Line scheme is the latest metro project to be tendered by the RTA this year. Tendering activity is already ongoing for the Route 2020 extension, which will start from the Expo 2020 metro station and connect to DWC’s West Terminal.
In April, MEED reported that consultants had submitted bids for the project.
The extension to the line will run for about 3km and will feature two stations.
The existing Route 2020 metro link is a 15km-long line that branches off the Red Line at Jebel Ali metro station. The line comprises 11.8km of elevated tracks and 3.2km of tunnels, and has five elevated stations and two underground stations.
The RTA awarded the AED10.6bn ($2.9bn) design-and-build contract for the project to a consortium of Spain’s Acciona, Turkiye’s Gulermak and France’s Alstom in 2016.
Gold Line
Dubai’s plans for its metro network do not stop with connecting the extension of the Route 2020 metro line to DWC. There are long-term plans for further extensions.
In October last year, MEED reported that the RTA had selected US-based engineering firm Aecom to provide consultancy services for the upcoming Dubai Metro Gold Line project, also known as Metro Line 4.
The Gold Line will start at Al-Ghubaiba in Bur Dubai. It will run parallel to – and alleviate pressure on – the existing Red Line, before heading inland to Business Bay, Meydan, Global Village and residential developments in Dubailand.
The existing network includes the Red and Green lines of the Dubai Metro and the Dubai Tram, which connects Al-Sufouh and Dubai Marina to the metro network. The last rail project to start operations in Dubai was the Red Line extension that opened for Expo 2020.
There are also existing and planned rail lines connecting Dubai to other emirates that are being developed and operated by Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Rail. These include passenger and freight services, as well as a high-speed rail connection.
Blue Line
In December 2024, the RTA awarded a AED20.5bn main contract for the Dubai Metro Blue Line project to a consortium of Turkish firms Limak Holding and Mapa Group and the Hong Kong office of China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation.
The Blue Line consists of 14 stations, including three interchange stations at Jaddaf, Rashidiya and International City 1, as well as a station in Dubai Creek Harbour.
By 2040, the number of daily passengers on the Blue Line is projected to reach 320,000. It will be the first Dubai Metro line to cross Dubai Creek, doing so on a 1,300m viaduct.
This story first appeared on MEED, part of GlobalData Media.
