Metro Pulse, Day One

999

9-Sep-09, is kickoff day for the Dubai Metro. To counter the whingers, I would argue that this represents quite an achievement. The date was announced some time ago, at least 1½ year back by my recollection—probably much earlier.

Even had the world economic crises/fiasco not intervened, keeping a deadline like this on such a massive undertaking is highly commendable. The complainers will point to the fact that only 10 of the 29 stations on the route will actually open on kickoff day. But I still see it as a great achievement. I consider myself a proud enthusiast of one more of Dubai’s notable successes.

The Skinny:

I write too much; it's a bad habit. So here's the short of it (so you don't have to bother reading the rest).

• The new stations look fantastic!
• This blog will include my reports written live in stations and on trains--its going to be all wireless!
• I'll post my own images (both literal and figurative) taken from the windows of the trains.
• I've traveled on a few metros around the world so can make some comparisons.
• It has been exciting watching the metro materialize all over Dubai.
• Dubai deserves a lot of credit for the undertaking.
• Thank you RTA.
  That's the full Monty in few words. Cheers!

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The stations, by all indications, are highly impressive edifices that sit perched above the thoroughfares they border or lie hidden underground. Those above-ground can be described as futuristic, with curving gold-colored roofs that slope down between panes of blackened glass and appendages of cast-iron, striped walls that jut out from either side of each station and cross over the adjacent highway.

A couple of simple images will suffice to get the picture across:

Gulf News images 30-Aug-09

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On the ground reporting is to be one of the objectives of this blog. The metro is due to have wireless connectivity—yippie! So, as I sit in a hopefully not-too-crowded carriage or in the station waiting for a train, I’ll need something to do on my laptop while curious onlookers peer at my screen. I would prefer not to be working on anything private or personal.

So, why not describe the goings-on around the new metro--from ground zero and from day one (well, actually day two, with day one reserved for dignitaries). I am looking forward to turning toward the fellow commuter peering at my screen and asking, So, what do you think of the new metro…, and then adding their responses to my blog. It would be good ice-breaker too, and more enjoyable than avoiding glances, feigning pre-occupation with a book or dozing off.

There will be a lot to write about, in the initial days especially—about the views of Dubai from the windows while on the elevated track, about the look and feel of the new stations and trains, about the types of passengers riding, the number of people, etc.

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Dubai through the metro glass will be another theme of the blog, mostly told through images. I don’t have a camera phone—my nearly 50 years of age attests to my lack of tech savviness, despite being a blogger. So, I will have to carry along my digital SLR—at least this way I am assured better images--and Dubai is still a relatively crimeless city. So there should be no issue with carrying around valuables.

I am all set to start camera in hand and laptop in bag at Rashidiya station on that magical three digit date!

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My credentials as a would be metro reporter includes experience of 11 years commuting on Japan’s multifarious rail network—probably the most extensive in the world. Besides that there have been the incidental passages on metro lines in several American cities—San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Minneapolis, Atlanta and New York—and a few locales internationally—London, Rome, Chennai, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong and Seoul. So, those provide me some basis of comparison.

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Are You Excited? ~a big milestone~
I am! For the past four years, we in the UAE have watched and been impeded by construction of the metro line through various parts of Dubai. The first evident signs were the placing of columns for the miles of viaduct along Dubai’s famed Sheikh Zayed Road—the most important artery of the city dissecting much of it with 12 lanes of highway.	Imagine how Dubai residents have been burdened for years with the inconvenience of this great artery which meant that in order to get to the other side one had to have a car or taxi to travel several kilometers in, or you just remained on your side of the great divide. Now, among the metro’s many attributes, will be 29 new pedestrian crossings which will finally make it possible to get to the other side in just minutes on foot.	Well, work has been fast and furious in the months leading up to D-day. The naysayers seemed to be relishing the thought that Dubai would fail to pull off its challenging feat on target. Other naysayers have complained that the rail line would service only those who happen to live and work along its 52 km route. Well, hello, that is at least 52 km of new service and it’s a rail line not a bus route, so of course you’ll have this limitation.

Credit where its due... I don’t understand people who expect to live in an environment where all conveniences are handily in place to meet their needs. Such people have groaned endlessly about the inconveniences imposed by the extensive construction works for the line. Again, a big HELLO to these people who expect a metro, highways and buildings to live in to just be there for them without having to be constructed first.

As an expat myself, I’d hate to be one of those to rant, if you don’t like it…--UAE expats all know how the phrase ends. That said, the naysayers and complainers might be able to have their cake and eat it too if they just resided first in those places that have all these things in place—there are many cities around the world which do. Then they could come back to Dubai in 10 years time when all is done. I wouldn’t begrudge them that, if they would at least spare us their whinging.

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A word of thanks to whom I’m not sure—the RTA, the municipal government or the big man (men or women) at the top of it all? But as one among the 80-90% of the population here who are expatriate residents, it is we who will benefit most from this investment in infrastructure. It will make our lives easier as we commute, transit to and from the airport and enjoy what leisure we may have. Dubai—its officials and the powers that be—do genuinely have regard for the countless numbers and nationalities of expats here, and the Dubai metro is one concrete—steel and glass—proof of that.

Metro Links:

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• RTA's own blog, even less useful than their main site--additional RTA likes can be found there.
  
• RTA trip planner, get exact routes, times, maps, etc. for individual journeys. (This is really good!)
  
• Dos and don’ts on the metro, a Gulf News write-up.
  
• Dubai-Metro.me, offers better access to info than the RTA site.
  
• Feeder bus details, including pdf schedules and routes.