Track test starts for Dubai Metro

Roads and Transport Authority officials kept a tight lid on testing of its first Dubai Metro train amid one of its first mechanical trips Monday.

Splashed in blue and silver paint, a five-car metro train set pulled out of the Jebel Ali Station this morning and made a cruising-speed run southward to the JAFZA Station.

Several officials could be seen in the front section of the train behind the large windscreen but they weren’t driving given that the Dubai Metro uses automated driverless technology.

Not long afterward, the train made a quick return along the electrified monorail to return to the Jebel Ali Sation where it remained parked throughout the day.

An RTA official told XPRESS that testing is being conducted this week but wouldn’t reveal if there was one day in particular in which the five-car train will receive most of the early scrutiny by metro engineers.

Journalists are not being invited to see the testing up close, said the official.

“There are too many safety concerns regarding the testing,” the official said. “The track is now electrified and there is a danger that you (journalists) could be hurt.”

Once the early-morning train run was finished, workers were seen at various checkpoints along the Red Line where it drops from high atop viaducts to the ground level.

Workers could be seen on top of the Jebel Ali Station cladding the roof of the elliptical-shaped structure with light metal sheathing.

The Dubai Metro is set to officially open Sept. 9, 2009, and is expected to carry 32,000 passengers an hour along the first Red Line from Union Square in Deira to Jebel Ali.