Let's catch up and overtake Dubai

Dubai municipality will invest 14.3 billion dirhams ($ 3.9 billion) in the construction of an ultra-modern metro - the first in the Persian Gulf

Dubai residents, who often travel from Deira to Jebel Ali or from Jumeirah to Sharjah, have long been tired of wasting time in traffic jams. It is probably surprising to many of them that the emirate’s set of public transport consists only of “Abra” water taxis and buses. However, this situation will not last long. Dubai once again confirms its glory as a city of advanced technology, embarking on a futuristic transport project - the construction of the first metro in the Persian Gulf.

At the end of May, the Dubai Municipality summed up the results of the competition between world famous engineering companies. The least expensive construction scheme was proposed by the Dubai Rapid Link consortium, which includes Mitsubishi and three other companies - one Turkish and three Japanese. And, as a result, in a few years elegant overpasses will ascend over the city. One hundred silent environmentally friendly trains, consisting of five 15-meter wagons, will carry 760 thousand passengers a day. However, the designers are ready for the fact that by 2020 the volume of traffic will increase to 2 million people a day.

The "red" metro line will start at Jebel Ali and will run along the entire Sheikh Zayed Highway. Then she will dive under the water of the bay, connecting the Burjuman shopping center with Al Ittihad square, turn 45 degrees and go to the Guzeys district along Salahuddin and Al Nahda streets. Its first segment from Internet City to the Al Ghurair Center store is due to open in 2009. The entire 52 km long line with 30 stations can be covered in 66 minutes.

The “green” line, a horseshoe covering the coast of the bay, will begin in Bar Dubai, at the entrance to Creek Park (or in Festival City), and pass under Khalid bin al Walid Street. Then, in parallel to the Shindag tunnel, it will rush to Deira, connecting the Gold Market and Nasser Square with Rigga Street and the Deira City Center store. Then she will head to the 1st and 3rd airport terminals. The opening of this site is scheduled for 2012. The entire line with a length of 17 km with 14 stations can be covered in 29 minutes.

Meanwhile, Moscow, not wanting to lag behind other world capitals, is building a fashionable "mini-metro". The first station of this new mode of transport should appear next to Moscow City - an analogue of the Dubai World Trade Center. (Naturally, only Burj Dubai will be above the Moscow skyscraper). One gets the impression that the Moscow government wants to catch up with the Emirates in terms of the number of mega-projects. So, recently, the mayor of the capital loudly announced the start of construction of the second Ring line of the metro ...

Prior to this, the capital's subway set itself much more modest tasks. The easy metro line will be extended in the coming years from Butovo to Bitsevsky Park. The Lublin line, meanwhile, will reach Trubnaya Square. And the International station mentioned above (near the future Moscow City) should open this year.

The metro station of the same name will soon appear not only in Moscow, but also in St. Petersburg - on the corner of Bucharest and Bela Kun streets. After this, it will be possible to get directly from Literatorny bridges to the Hermitage and from the Mariinsky Theater to the Dostoevsky Museum. However, before launching the fifth line, a number of technical issues need to be resolved. Firstly, it’s not very clear how to get out of the Admiralty’s station without destroying nearby buildings. Secondly, it has not yet been decided how exactly (underground or above it) to build a metro along Bucharest Street. The second option is cheaper, but fraught with the fact that the whole street will fail in the already dug tunnels.

It is hoped that, nevertheless, in Kupchino the metro will come faster than at the Commandant Aerodrome. Half a million inhabitants of this sleeping area have been waiting for their station for 20 years. At the celebration in honor of its opening, V. Matvienko promised the townspeople next year another station - in the Parnas industrial zone.

Kazan, meanwhile, is preparing for its 1000th anniversary, a gift for which should be the opening of the first metro line of five stations. Traveling along a 7-kilometer path (from the Kremlin through Tukay Square and Sukonnaya Sloboda to Ametyevo and Gorki) will take 12 minutes. In the future, in Kazan, it is planned to open three metro lines with a total length of 44 km. Also, plans include the city train ring line and three “light metro” lines.

But representatives of neighboring countries relate to the metro in different ways. If the residents of Riga refused to build it, then the Almaty residents, on the contrary, returned to this idea after a 15-year break. True, during this time the city’s traffic flows have undergone serious changes - so the Almaty subway has every chance to share the fate of Samara, visited only by tourists.

Nevertheless, nobody is going to remodel the outdated project. In a few years, it is planned to open a line of seven stations, of which only three are ready so far.

The Tashkent metro in 2001 acquired a third line that crossed the Bozsa River. Soon she should reach from the TV tower to Yunusabad. And there, you see, hands will reach the line in the Sergeli region - however, the Chinese will build it.

Last year, Kharkiv residents finally waited for stations near the Botanical Garden and on 23 August Street. After this, the metro trains should reach Pavlov Field; in addition, the plans include the airport, northern Saltovka, Moskalevka, Roganka, Zalyutino ... Kievans meanwhile saw a new station after the Dorogozhychi. Next, they are waiting for the station on Kharkov Square (IKEA store is already under construction there), at the Expocenter, and in the distant future, perhaps - a whole line on the eastern bank of the Dnieper, connecting Troieschina with Osokorky.

All cities that have a metro have their own "underground" sites detailing each station, including those that have been liquidated or those that will never be built. We wish Dubai to acquire the same site (and not only), and our compatriots to see the embodiment of all plans, both modest and amazing.