Monorail's first outing a success

The Middle East's first monorail runs the length of The Palm Jumeirah.

DUBAI // The Middle East's first monorail has made its first official journey, from the bottom of The Palm Jumeirah to the top. It carried representatives from Nakheel, The Palm Jumeirah's developer, and the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) from Gateway Station at the trunk of The Palm to Atlantis Aquaventure Station, a distance of 5.45km, in eight minutes. Chris O'Donnell, the chief executive of Nakheel,, yesterday promised the driverless monorail would be ready to carry passengers by April as planned. Although it will be fully automatic, an attendant will be on board at all times. The monorail will initially be able to carry 2,400 passengers an hour in each direction in four separate trains, each made up of three cars. Eventually, nine trains will have a total capacity of 6,000 people an hour for each direction. The monorail, built by Nakheel in conjunction with the RTA, will have two other stations at Trump International Hotel and Tower and the Palm Mall. It will eventually connect to the Dubai Metro when the RTA's Dh4 billion (US$1.09bn) Al Safooh tramline starts to operate. Due for completion in 2011, the 14km Al Safooh line will run the length of Al Safooh Road, stopping at 19 stations, including Knowledge Village, Media City, Jumeirah Lakes Towers and the entrance to Palm Jumeirah. Some residents of Palm Jumeirah remain unconvinced of the monorail's usefulness. "I'm a little confused about it, to be honest," said Orna Theboul, an American livingin an apartment on the trunk of The Palm. "If it's only running until the beginning of the Palm, I would still need my car to get to work the rest of the way, so I don't see why I would use it. "If it does night runs, then it would make sense to use it to get from Atlantis to the bottom of the Palm at 3am, and if there were more than two stations available. But apart from that, there isn't much use for it by residents." Irene Proimos, a South African who has been living on The Palm for three months, said: "I don't think I would use the monorail personally, as it only takes me seven minutes to get to work and I need my car during the day, too. "It is a great idea but at the same time there's the issue of parking. There has to be available parking for [riders] and already there is a lack of parking available on The Palm." Mohammed Sadati, a resident of The Palm for two years, said: "If it gives me a better route, reduces the traffic and gives me a better way of getting home, then I would use it." The monorail has been designed to overcome a number of challenges including the extreme summer heat. Some 1,000m of the rail also runs over sea, and it has an almost silent track so as not to disturb The Palm's residents. "When we connect the Palm Monorail to the metro we will be able to offer passengers a seamless journey from Dubai International Airport to the hotels on Palm Jumeirah, using just one fare card," said Abdulmajid al Khaja, the chief executive officer of the RTA. [e-mail]