Palm monorail launch date delayed

RAIL DELAY: The Palm Monorail, originally slated to open in April, will now start operations later in 2009.

Nakheel has delayed the opening of its $381 million Palm Monorail from its original date of April to later this year, it emerged on Thursday.

The monorail, which runs along the Palm Jumeirah, completed live testing on schedule and would shortly receive its operating certificate from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), a spokesman for the developer told Arabian Business.

“We are currently working with all providers to ensure amenities and facilities related to Palm Monorail are completed in line with the opening of the monorail which is scheduled for later this year,” the spokesman added in an email.

With the capacity to carry some 40,000 passengers around Nakheel’s man-made island, the system was originally slated to commence carrying visitors and residents from April 2009.

On-site testing began in October 2008 on the system's trains, from Japanese manufacturer Hitachi.

When operational, the new system will carry passengers each day between Gateway Station at the trunk of the Palm Jumeirah and the Atlantis' Aquaventure Station on the crescent.

Nakheel has plans to ultimately connect the service to the Dubai Metro after the introduction of RTA's Al Sufouh tramline, which would offer direct llinks to Dubai Airport.

Developed by a consortium of leading international companies, led by the Marubeni Corporation, the Palm Monorail's system is fully automatic and driverless, although an attendant will be on board at all times.

The monorail will initially carry up to 2,400 passengers per hour per direction in four separate trains, each made up of three cars. At full capacity, the figure will rise to a maximum of 6,000 people in nine vehicles.

State-of-the-art technology has been employed to overcome a number of challenges including running 1,000m of rail over-sea, meeting Dubai's unique climatic conditions, and protecting the communities of the Palm Jumeirah from noise pollution by using a virtually silent track system.

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READERS' COMMENTS

atlantis
Posted by john on Thursday 2 April 2009 at 21:37 UAE time


atlantis cost was massive hence the on time but over budget

palm monorail
Posted by johann, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Thursday 2 April 2009 at 17:32 UAE time


why should we be surprised, as off this day no project on palm jumeirah was on time except the Atlantis hotel and i am proud of having been a member of the atlantis project management team.

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