Dubai Metro has circled around the Earth 3 times

After nearly five years of operation, the trains of Dubai Metro have collectedly covered a distance of 28,986,929 kilometers, which is more than three times the circumference of the Earth, said the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

This Tuesday will be an historic day for Dubai Metro; exactly five years earlier the first train headed out on the newly assembled metro tracks, and it has continued to serve thousands of commuters every day.

Distance has been a central theme in the metro tale, as Dubai Metro has been accounted for the longest driverless metro network in the world.

Counting a total length of 74,6 km today, the largest part consists of the 52,1-long Red Line, with the Green Line adding another 22,5km.

But distance is not the only milestone that has been achieved; passenger numbers speak too.

Passenger numbers

In 2014, half a million people have said to use the metro every day, and the daily commute numbers are swelling rapidly, as they accounted for 377,423 metro users in 2013.

On November 7, 2011 Dubai metro hit the hundred million passengers mark. The total number of passengers has since then surged almost five-fold, with more than 470 passengers having used the metro today.

That the total number of metro passengers increases every year becomes clear when considering that almost a third of the total number of metro users was counted in 2013 alone, with 137,759,258 people using the metro.

Meanwhile, numbers have continued to rise this year. The first 6 months of 2014 witnessed 81,403,876 riders compared to 67,101,316 riders recorded during the same period last year.

Moreover, the average number of daily passengers has increased from 60,000 passengers in 2009 to approximately 500,000 passengers in 2014.

Increased capacity

While the number of people eager to ride the metro is constantly on the rise, Dubai Metro is growing simultaneously, as it catches up with the rising demand.

When Dubai's first Metro line was inaugurated in 2009, it served ten stations along the Red Line. Today, five years later, Dubai Metro serves two lines and 49 stations.

“We can say that we have many plans in place to bring in solutions in terms of service, like changing the frequencies as necessary, buying additional trains, extending the lines and enhancing the metro stations,” said Mohammed Al Mudharreb, Director of Rail Operations at the RTA earlier.

Until July 2014 a total number of 768,484 trips were made by Dubai Metro on both the Red and Green Line. This number is on the increase, as the train headways are adjusted periodically, and more trains hit the tracks every year.

Currently, 62 trains run on the Green and Red lines, with peak hour headways of 3 minutes. A single metro train can accommodate 643 passengers.

On a regular day, one train is on wheels for 18,5 hours. On Thursday this is 19,5 hours while the metro is operative for 10 hours on Friday.

Where are most people traveling?

The Red Line has always been the dominant metro line, transporting almost twice as many passengers overall. In 2013, the total number of passengers who used the Red Line was 88,886,539, while Green Line commuters amounted to 48,872,719.

Similarly, while 494,003 is the total number of trips made on the Red Line until July 2014, the Green Line witnessed 274,481 trips.

Surprising, however, is the record of the busiest metro station in the first half of 2014. With about 4 million riders, it was Green Line station Al Fahidi that accommodated most commuters.

 On the Red Line, Deira City Center was the busiest metro station in the first 6 months recording 3,655,016 riders. It was closely followed by Burj Khalifa Station, which attracted 3,446,410 riders, and Union Station which was used by 3,400,949 riders.

Baniyas and Al Ghubaiba Stations followed Al Fahidi as the most crowded Green Line stations, with 3,782,988 riders 2,818,597 riders respectively.

More interesting numbers

-  20 is the total number of wheels that a metro train runs on;

-   750 volts is the direct current that Dubai metro runs on;

-  8-9 years is the life-span of a brake of a metro train;

-  Over 4000 CCTV cameras are installed across trains and stations on Dubai metro;

-  23 people run the Operations Control Centre in Rashidiya, which runs the Dubai metro trains;

-  700 metro staff, trained in first aid and medical assistance, man the metro stations;

-  80 per cent of the water used to wash the trains is recycled;

-  645,000kg in CO2 emissions is reduced by Dubai metro every day;

- 1 ton of scrap metal flakes is produced during wheel profiling of 4 trains, all of which is recycled.

 

 

 


 

 

 

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