Red Line (Dubai Metro)

The Red Line is currently one of two lines of the Dubai Metro network in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It runs from Centrepoint (formerly Rashidiya) in the east to Expo 2020 (formerly Expo 2020) in the west and travels parallel to Sheikh Zayed Road for most of its length.

There are two interchange stations with the Green Line: Union and BurJuman. Additionally, Jabal Ali is an interchange between the main Red Line (Route 2020) to Expo 2020 and the branch line to UAE Exchange. The Red Line has its main depot near Centrepoint and an auxiliary depot at UAE Exchange.

Additionally, DMCC and Sobha Realty have connections to the Dubai Tram at Jumeirah Lake Towers and Dubai Marina stations respectively.

History
The first section was inaugurated on 9 September 2009 with ten stations opened. Construction was declared complete on 28 April 2010 with an additional sixteen stations opened during 2010.

In 2010, the Red Line carried a total of 38.888 million passengers with a daily average of about 149,000 people, according to the RTA Statistics Office. In 2013, the Red Line handled a total of over 88 million passengers and the daily average was about 243,000 people.

Three additional stations were added between 2011 and 2013, making a total of twenty-nine stations spanning 52.1 km. The line is the world's longest single rapid transit line to use driverless trains, as recognized by Guinness World Records in 2011.

Route 2020
As part of the Expo 2020 development in Dubai, an extension of the Red Line named Route 2020 announced in December 2015 and originally due to be completed mid-2019. The extension project created a new section of the line from Jabal Ali to the Expo 2020 site, near Al Maktoum International Airport.

Construction of the Route 2020 line started in 2016 by the ExpoLink Consortium, comprising Alstom, Acciona, and Gülermak. The track layout east of Jabal Ali station was modified to create a new branch and one additional platform to serve the new route. The line was formally inaugurated by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai's Ruler and UAE Prime Minister, on 8 July 2020. As a result of increasing popularity of the metro, the new stations feature platforms wider than those found in existing stations, to cope with greater ridership. The extension is 15 km in length, with 11.8 km above ground and 3.2 km below ground. Of the seven stations, five are elevated and two are underground. Eventually it is planned to extend the line beyond Expo 2020 to Al Maktoum International Airport, south of the Expo site. The route is expected to have 275,000 users each day by 2030.

The extension was partially opened on 1 January 2021, with trains running a shuttle service between Jabal Ali and Al Furjan. The section from Al Furjan to Expo 2020 was opened on 1 June 2021, allowing the extension to be fully operational, as well as the transfer of the main Red Line route from UAE Exchange to Expo 2020. The section from Jabal Ali to UAE Exchange now runs as a shuttle service, with passengers from Centrepoint needing to change at Jabal Ali for stations to UAE Exchange.

The travel time between Centrepoint and Expo 2020 station is reported to be 1 hour 14 minutes with a service frequency of 2 minutes and 38 seconds during peak times (24 trains per hour in each direction), and a capacity of 16,000 passengers per hour in each direction.

Starting from 15 April 2024, there will be no need to switch trains at the Jabal Ali Metro Station because the Dubai Metro Red Line will branch into 2 direct routes:
 * Centrepoint to Expo 2020
 * Centrepoint to UAE Exchange

The directions depend on the timing of the Y junction where the Expo 2020 and UAE Exchange branches meet in front of Jabal Ali Metro Station.

Route
As of 2021, the Red Line had 31 stations on the main line, and an additional 4 stations on the branch. The line is 52.1 km long, with 4.7 km underground.

170 feeder buses are provided by the RTA for commuters to commute to stations on the line are also in operation, as of 15 October 2010.

Services
The entire journey time on the Red Line is approximately 74 minutes, travelling at a maximum speed of 110 km/h, with 20–30 seconds stopping time at each station. The average time between stations on the Red Line is 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.

Commercial station branding naming
The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) 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 (Al Karama), First Abu Dhabi Bank, Sharaf DG, Nakheel, DAMAC Properties (Dubai Marina), Danube (Jebel Ali Industrial) and Mashreq.