Building the world’s longest driverless metro
August 2012
As well as hosting the planet’s tallest building, Dubai in the UAE has 17 skyscrapers taller than The Shard in London - more than any other city in the world. It now has an equally futuristic and record-breaking driverless metro system, the design and construction of which is reported in the latest issue of the ICE Civil Engineering journal (165 CE3).
According the metro’s programme director, Matthew Botelle of Parsons, ‘In a city dominated by the car but projecting heavy population growth, the metro has been designed to provide unparalleled levels of customer comfort and finishing, together with the frequency, punctuality and coverage to meet the emirate’s future strategic needs and ambitions.’
The second line of the £4.8 billion project opened towards the end of last year, bringing the total extent to 75 km and making it the world’s longest fully-automated metro system. Fleets of driverless, air-conditioned five-car trains can carry up to 25 700 passengers per hour in each direction.
Most of the 47 stations are at or above ground level and feature a stunning aluminium and glass ‘clam-shell’ design. With average summer temperatures in excess of 40 degrees C, these and the 12 underground stations are all air-conditioned via a district cooling system which supplies 60 000 t of water chilled to 4.8 degrees C.
For more information:
As well as hosting the planet’s tallest building, Dubai in the UAE has 17 skyscrapers taller than The Shard in London - more than any other city in the world. It now has an equally futuristic and record-breaking driverless metro system, the design and construction of which is reported in the latest issue of the ICE Civil Engineering journal (165 CE3).
According the metro’s programme director, Matthew Botelle of Parsons, ‘In a city dominated by the car but projecting heavy population growth, the metro has been designed to provide unparalleled levels of customer comfort and finishing, together with the frequency, punctuality and coverage to meet the emirate’s future strategic needs and ambitions.’
The second line of the £4.8 billion project opened towards the end of last year, bringing the total extent to 75 km and making it the world’s longest fully-automated metro system. Fleets of driverless, air-conditioned five-car trains can carry up to 25 700 passengers per hour in each direction.
Most of the 47 stations are at or above ground level and feature a stunning aluminium and glass ‘clam-shell’ design. With average summer temperatures in excess of 40 degrees C, these and the 12 underground stations are all air-conditioned via a district cooling system which supplies 60 000 t of water chilled to 4.8 degrees C.
For more information:
Please contact the ICE Proceedings editor Simon Fullalove on +44 20 7665 2448 or at editor@ice.org.uk
