The Dubai Metro is becoming an increasingly tangible reality. The Arabian coast masters the transport technologies of the land of the rising sun. In Osaka, Japan, the construction of trains began, which will “cut through” the vast expanses of the emirate. They promise to create the first train by October of this year. In March 2008, tests on silver-blue cars will begin on the first Arabian subway line.
Under the Dubai bay, dividing the old Arab city into two parts, Japanese technology works. Gnaws at the ground "bugeisha" - an assembly designed in Japan specifically for the construction of a local subway. It is gradually immersed in salty sands, to a 30-meter depth. Under the waters of the Gulf, “bugeisha” will connect two historical areas separated from each other by a water space of the same width as the Neva River in the area of the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Used in the United Arab Emirates, the word "bugeisha" was able to decipher only with the help of local experts. The word is original, old, surviving in folk speech. It’s not in the dictionaries. No, because the new history of this deserted Arabian corner began about half a century ago. Old realities have not yet entered into new dictionaries. My Emirate friend says that the word comes from the Arabic verb meaning "rule the razor." The Bedouins call the local “sharp-toothed shrew” “bogey”, gnawing through the labyrinths of underground passages and not knowing insurmountable obstacles.
The old and the new in Dubai combine before our eyes so quickly that it becomes a pity the old. Old people are nostalgic for the past. Half of the country's indigenous population, according to the latest Emirate census of 2006, refers to teenagers. Their advancing giant Dubai construction site is certainly pleasing. The metro is one of the elements of the new Dubai future created on camel paths swept by the winds. What can old people say if in their childhood they could reach the Abu Dhabi border by camel in just two days, and after creating the subway in 20 minutes?
The 1000-ton “bugeisha” with a diameter of about 10 meters and a length of more than 80 meters quietly went into the centuries-old sands from the densely populated area on Deira in the direction of the chic Dubai Mall Burjuman Center. There will be a busy subway station. Her accommodation in this area cost the owners of the mall a lot of money. In Dubai they know how to count and do not spend in vain. The costs will be justified by providing easy access to the shopping center for local residents and, especially, foreign tourists.
Now the sites in front of the Burjuman Center are open, preparations are underway for the construction of an underground station, and road transport with difficulty and constant beeps of impatient Afghan and Pakistani taxi drivers is pushing past road barriers along temporary access roads.
Subway construction in Dubai is considered a cost-effective project. The construction budget is estimated at almost $ 4 billion. It includes all expenses for engineering, procurement of trains and equipment. Operating costs will be approximately $ 150 million per year. Subway director Abdel Majid Khaya says the money invested will quickly return to the emirate’s budget thanks to the transport of more than a million passengers a day and advertising revenue.
In the area of the other, the newest and largest Dubai trading platform to date, Mall of the Emirates, white concrete poles of the viaduct climbed 10 meters high, along which thousands of “shopoman” will deliver trains. Metro is a very nice form of transport for Russians, and the workers of this mall are already preparing for their collision. These days, having fallen into a gigantic store operating as a well-functioning mechanism, you feel as if you were in your Russian homeland, only more fun, well-disposed and very friendly, in a word - festive.
Dubai trade, in general, is a holiday, entertainment, beautiful, vibrant, sustained on the desire to respect the buyer and achieve their own goals.
These spring days, the Mall of the Emirates greets visitors arriving in a taxi right at the entrance with the tune “The month is shining, the sun is shining”, although it’s time to start a famous Skalov song about how the subway retires the old “mare driver”, that is, a camel , and at the same time a very expensive taxi. Balalaikas are playing, wooden spoons are knocking in the hands of a pretty girl, and Russian guys are dancing to the squeaky whistle.
Buyers from Russia and other former Soviet republics, where the Russian language has not yet been forgotten, are found literally at every counter. Just hear: "Look at this one more." "Try on a blouse." "Remember to bargain." "Right now! So I left here!" In almost all departments, even black-browed Arab sellers with trendy hairstyles laced with laced hair, depicting lacquered morning shag, speak Russian. Russians are lured here by a broad and lower price, emphasized by a respectful attitude. Therefore, many of our tourists after the airport make their first stop here. It’s difficult to get to this giant mall next to an artificial ski mountain because of the difficult road junctions and the traffic jams that are exhausting with the waiting. Yes, and a taxi is expensive in Dubai.
Traffic jams will soon be obsolete. Money saved. Platforms have already been laid on some supports of the metro viaduct near the mall. Metro is coming. It will start right at the Dubai International Airport, where its “red line”, on which “boogeysha” now operates, will fit. The unit still has a lot of work to do in the central part of the city with a million people. 12.6 km of tunnels will be dug underground. They will make up about a sixth of the total length of the rail, which will mainly pass over and over the earth and extend over 74.6 kilometers.
The first metro on the Arabian Peninsula at the initial stage will consist of two lines. The length of the red line will exceed 52 km. Its landmarks are already clearly visible thanks to white concrete piers stretching for tens of kilometers along the left side of Sheikh Zayed Highway leading to Abu Dhabi. It will reach almost the border between the capital's emirate and Dubai, which is actively developing its entire coastline along the Gulf, which stretches for 75 kilometers.
On the "red line" will be opened 29 stations, including 4 underground. The shorter green line is equipped with 18 stations, seven of which will be removed underground.
All of Dubai’s life is concentrated in the bay area, where the emirate’s role as the region’s shopping center was affirmed, and along the coast of the Persian Gulf. The metro will not spoil either the old center or attractive coastal species. In the business part of the city he will be hidden from view in the bowels of the earth. In new areas, the line is offshore. But train passengers will be able to admire the sea landscape, laden with beautiful towers.
The public transport network will connect the Marina, Nahil, Ibn Batuta metro stations covered with golden roofs with coastal resorts and hotels, with artificial islands washed in the shallow waters of the Gulf. Large stations are planning taxi stops and car rental points, bus routes. For the convenience of passengers, uniform tickets and electronic transport cards will be used.
There will be no drivers or conductors in the Dubai metro. Automation will say its last word and ensure the high profitability of the modern mode of transport, most of which will go along the line of the caravan camel trail, which for centuries connected Abu Dhabi with Dubai.
According to the Dubai newspaper Gulf News, 87 trains with a length of about 85 meters will run on the subway lines at a speed of 110 km / h. Each of them will consist of 5 cars. Their width will be 2.78 and a height of 3.86 meters. They will accommodate up to 120 people.
Each train will create one "Golden Salon" in the head of the train. Four "Silver cars" will make an economy class. The Golden Salon is equipped with spacious leather chairs and will allow passengers in an 18-seat compartment to view the city through the windshield. Part of the "Golden" car is intended for children and women.
The designers abandoned the fixed chairs and make them spinning, which will facilitate communication between fellow travelers. Those who wish to travel while standing will be able to hold on to special rods.
The movement of automated trains is planned to be regulated from the operational control center. In each train, three cars will be leading. At peak hours, the time interval between trains will be one and a half minutes. In normal times, it will slightly exceed two and a half minutes. Travel time “from final to final” on the “red” branch - 66 minutes, on the “green” - 27 minutes. In the meantime, we are standing on Sheikh Zayed’s highway in a traffic jam. We are waiting for the subway. It remains to wait approximately 800 days.
/ Victor Lebedev /
