SYSTRA wins Dubai tram extension

The Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai has awarded phases two and three of the extension of their Light Rail Transit system to SYSTRA, continuing their relationship with the French consultancy group that has already managed earlier stages of the authority’s engineering and consultancy projects.

SYSTRA, in association with AECOM, will take charge of transport planning, preliminary design and invitations to tender, for the second and third phases, for 14 months.

Phase two of the Dubai tram will serve the town’s main attractions, including Madinat Jumeirah, Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Burj Al-Arab, as well as the Mall of Emirates (MOE), the largest shopping mall in the United Arab Emirates. 

Phase two is part of the master plan for Jumeirah Central Project, managed by Dubai Holding and phase three will serve the Jumeirah Beach road to the north-west of Dubai. The route crosses projects already underway, such as the one-way road system. As a result, the area between Jumeirah Road and the Al Wasl district is being totally redefined. This will integrate into the feasibility study for the design of phase three of the project.

SYSTRA has already worked on the design of the automated metro’s two lines which were opened in 2009 and 2011 and also the first phase of the Dubai tram which was inaugurated in November 2014.

The first stone of the Dubai metro extension was laid last September and the project, which is scheduled for completion in April 2020, should be ready in time to deliver visitors to the World Expo that will take place in October 2020.