The project is valued at 20·5bn dirhams, with construction to begin in April 2025 for opening on September 9 2029, the 20th anniversary of Dubai’s first metro line.
The international tender attracted technical and financial proposals from five alliances comprising 15 companies, and three consortia advanced to the final stage.
Route
The 30 km Blue Line will have two routes totalling 15·5 km of underground and 14·5 km of elevated alignment, including a 1·3 km long bridge across the Dubai Creek.
One 21 km route branch with 10 stations will start at Al Khor Interchange on the Green Line in Al Jaddaf and run through Dubai Festival City, Dubai Creek Harbour and Ras Al Khor to International City 1, Dubai Silicon Oasis and Dubai Academic City.
The 9 km second route with four stations will begin at Centrepoint Interchange on the Red Line in Al Rashidiya and run through Mirdif and Al Warqaa to International City 1.
The Blue Line will have a capacity of 46 000 passengers/direction/h with trains every 2 min. It is expected to serve nearly 200 000 passengers/day by 2030, rising to 320 000 passengers/day by 2040.
RTA Director General & Chairman Mattar Al Tayer said the ‘iconic’ Dubai Creek Harbour station designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill would be ‘distinguished by its unique architectural design that embodies Dubai’s forward-thinking vision’. International City 1 will have the largest underground interchange station on the metro network, with a capacity of 350 000 passengers/day.
The project includes a depot in Al Ruwaiya