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Rail Network to the Future

The plan to set up a union rail company that will oversee the proposed 900km line that would link the emirates clearly shows that the city is only too aware of its necessity.

According to projections, Dubai alone will have over seven million residents by the year 2030 and only an efficient mass transportation system — like the planned railway — can move people around quickly and aid in the economic development of the city.

According to a comprehensive long-range transportation study undertaken by the Roads Transport Authority, which includes a master plan for the next 15 years, an investment of more than Dh75 billion on infrastructure will be required with the spend on roads networks alone over the next decade being around Dh44.5 billion. The proposed railway will be an additional spend, but one that will be worth every dime spent.

Today, not a day passes when commuters don’t get stuck in traffic jams and people have put up with this for the last two years, with the hope that it was a transitory phase. But we all now know that it has come to stay. It is the bane of all big cities. As this city grows, so should the infrastructure. We need a mass transport system like the railways because there are masses who need it. Any city/country that fails to ferry commuters from their home to the workplace and back fails its people.

Apart from the obvious traffic snarls and wasted man hours, think of the frayed tempers, stress levels, non-existing lifestyles, children growing up at the babysitters, with both parents having to work and reaching home late after battling traffic, not to mention the toll it takes on our physical and mental health and the mounting medical bills. Success comes with price and transportation in this city will only get worse before it gets better and better.