Dubai may release updated plans for metro expansion next year

Dubai is studying plans to extend its metro network and may release an updated expansion strategy next year, a transport authority official said.

“The studies are there but we have to revisit them again and see when to initiate the project,” Adnan Al Hammadi, head of the rail agency at Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, said at a conference in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Dubai Metro opened part of its first line, called the Red Line, in September 2009 and plans to open a second, the Green line, next year. Extensions to those lines are under review, Al Hammadi said.

The RTA is also reviewing plans to build Purple and Blue lines, Al Hammadi said. Dubai is also building a 4 billion- dirham ($1.1 billion), 14-kilometer tram line that may come into operation in 2013 or 2014.