The Red Line is one of the two lines on the DubaiMetro network in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The first section was inaugurated on 9 September 2009. Construction was declared complete on 28 April 2010. The Red Line runs from Rashidiya in the east to Jebel Ali in the west and travels parallel to Sheikh Zayed Road for most of its length. It has 29 stations spanning, which have been opened in phases from 2009 to 2011. The line is the world's longest single metro line to use driverless trains, as recognized by Guinness World Records in 2011. There are two designated transfer stations along the line; Union and BurJuman stations, where the Green and Red Lines intersect, allowing passengers to change between lines. The Red Line has its main depot at Rashidiya and an auxiliary depot at UAE Exchange.
History
In 2013 the Red line lifted a total over 88 million passengers and the current daily average is about 243,000 people as of 2013, according to the RTA Statistics Office.
Route
The Red Line has 29 stations; 24 elevated, 4 underground, and one at ground level. The line is long, with underground. 170 feeder buses provided by the RTA for commuters to commute to stations on the line are also in operation as of 15 October 2010.
Route 2020 extension
An extension of the Red Line to the Expo 2020 site was announced in December 2015 and completed mid-2019. The extension project, named "Route 2020" will create a branch of the line from Nakheel Harbour & Tower to the Expo 2020 site, near Al Maktoum International Airport. The 14.5 km extension will pass through Discovery Gardens, Dubai Investment Park, Al Furjan and Jumeirah Golf Estates and will comprise 7 new stations; 5 elevated and 2 underground. As a result of increasing popularity of the metro, the new stations will feature platforms wider than those found in current stations, to cope with greater ridership. The track layout east of Nakheel Harbour & Tower station was modified to create a new branch and two additional platforms which will be used to serve the new route.
Services
The entire journey time on the Red Line is approximately 60 minutes, traveling at a maximum speed of, with 20–30 seconds stopping time at each station. The average time between stations on the Red Line will be 60–90 seconds. The RTA operates 27 trains in the morning peak hours and 29 trains in the evening peak hours with the interval between train services ranging from 6 to 8 minutes in the morning peak period, and from 5 to 6 minutes in the evening peak period.
Station naming
The Roads and Transport Authority has benefited significantly from businesses along the routes of the Red and Green lines sponsoring nearby stations. The naming initiative has so far generated over Dh2 billion in revenue for the RTA. On average, each station has brought in Dh90-100 million. On 13 May 2010, it was announced that Al Quoz station, which opened on 15 May, would be named Noor Islamic Bank. This announcement that Noor Islamic Bank won the right to name Al Quoz Station for a period of ten years was made in the presence of the bank's representatives at the RTA headquarters in Dubai. Moreover, several other stations on the Red Line have been named after local and international corporate giants, including, Emirates Airlines, GGICO, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Sharaf DG, Nakheel, DAMAC Properties and Danube.
