A unique connection between Etihad Rail and the Dubai Metro will link inter-emirate train travel with Dubai’s Red Line network.
As Etihad Rail begins services from Dubai on September 30, passengers arriving at Dubai Al Yalayis Station will be able to connect with the Metro Red Line at Jumeirah Golf Estates. From there, they can continue across the city to destinations served by the Metro without needing a car.
Dubai residents can, in turn, take the Metro to Jumeirah Golf Estates and connect to Al Yalayis Station to board a train to Abu Dhabi or Fujairah.
A Khaleej Times check on Google Maps shows the two stations to be around 1km apart.
Dedicated footbridge
A dedicated footbridge is being constructed to connect Al Yalayis directly with Jumeirah Golf Estates Metro Station, Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), recently confirmed.
Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels.
Al Tayer said the authority was working with Etihad Rail to make transfers easier as the national railway connects with Dubai’s Metro network.
When Khaleej Times visited the site earlier, a long steel-framed pedestrian structure could be seen extending from the Etihad Rail station towards the underground Metro station. Construction work was continuing on the pedestrian link, station access areas and landscaping at the time.
Where does the Metro connection take passengers?
Jumeirah Golf Estates Metro Station is on Dubai Metro’s Red Line, giving passengers transferring from Etihad Rail access to some of the city’s best-known business, tourism and residential districts.
From Jumeirah Golf Estates, passengers can continue towards stations serving Dubai Marina, Dubai Internet City, Mall of the Emirates, Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall, Business Bay, Dubai World Trade Centre and Dubai International Airport’s Terminals 1 and 3. In the opposite direction, the line continues towards Dubai Investment Park and Expo 2020.
The reach extends beyond the Red Line itself. At Union and BurJuman, passengers can interchange with the Green Line, extending their journey to areas served by stations including Gold Souq, Al Ghubaiba, Dubai Healthcare City and Creek.
Passengers can also connect from the Red Line to the Dubai Tram, which serves areas including Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Media City and Al Sufouh, as well as the Palm Jumeirah tram station. RTA’s rail map shows Metro-Tram interchanges at Sobha Realty and DMCC.
For someone arriving in Dubai on Etihad Rail, that means the journey does not necessarily end at Al Yalayis. After transferring at Jumeirah Golf Estates, they can continue across much of the city by rail without needing a car.
A station built for large passenger volumes
Jumeirah Golf Estates is not a small neighbourhood Metro stop.
When RTA opened it in September 2021, the authority described it as the biggest underground station on the Dubai Metro network.
The station spans 28,700 square metres and is designed to handle 11,555 passengers per hour during peak periods and about 250,000 passengers per day.
It also has four bus stops, 20 taxi stands, 400 public parking spaces around the station and 20 parking spaces for People of Determination.
More integration ahead
The physical Metro link is part of a larger plan to make Etihad Rail journeys more seamless from start to finish. Etihad Rail has been working on ways for passengers to plan journeys that combine the national railway with Metro, buses, taxis, ride-hailing and other first and last-mile transport options. Eventually, that could mean fewer separate steps when planning and completing a journey across different transport networks.
Ticketing could become more integrated too. In 2024, RTA and Etihad Rail signed an agreement under which RTA would develop ticket-booking and fare-payment solutions through its nol system. The agreement was described as the first step in a joint venture between the two entities. No date for the rollout of nol payments on Etihad Rail was specified in that announcement.
Source: Khaleej Times
