Dubai Metro serves four new stations on Route 2020

Jebel Ali, The Gardens, Discovery Gardens and Al Furjan stations are open to passengers

Workers build an underground tunnel at Union Square Station, one of two underground stations where both Dubai Metro lines meet, in 2008. Reuters

Construction of a metro station on Sheikh Zayed Road in January 2009. Alamy

Scores of buildings under construction along the new metro line are seen on June 15, 2008. AFP

Construction of a track line support column for Dubai Metro under way. Alamy

Workers at a construction site for Dubai Metro pictured on May 28, 2008. AFP

Construction for Dubai Metro under way ahead of its inauguration in 2009.

Dubai Metro passes Dubai Marina during test runs a week before its opening on September 9, 2009. Stephen Lock / The National

Murals painted on the Metro support pillars in November 2018. They were painted by two international artists, Peruvian Daniel Cortez and Dominican-born, Miami-based Elio Mercado, known as Evoca1. Reem Mohammed / The National

Commuters file into Noor Bank Metro Station in September 2018. Victor Besa / The National

Commuters wait to take the Metro.

Dubai Metro has served more than 1.5bn passengers since it opened 10 years ago.

Four new stations on Dubai Metro’s Route 2020 are now open to passengers. The route links the city with the Expo 2020 site.

The first train on the route departed at 10am on January 1, the emirate’s Roads and Transport Authority tweeted.

Route 2020 now covers four stations: Jebel Ali, The Gardens, Discovery Gardens and Al Furjan.

The remaining three stations – Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai Investments Park and 2020 Expo – will open later this year.

The new 15-kilometre section will allow trains to carry tens of thousands of visitors to the Expo site when the fair opens in October 2021. The world fair was originally scheduled to be held in October 2020 but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The extension to the Red Line cost about Dh11 billion ($3bn), a major investment in public transport for the city. The original project built between 2005 and 2009 cost about Dh28 billion.

There will be six trains an hour serving Jebel Ali, The Gardens, Discovery Gardens and Al Furjan and the waiting time between each train will be 10 minutes, the RTA said last month.

Nineteen buses will serve the four stations, connecting metro passengers with other areas.

The service will run between 5am and midnight Saturday to Wednesday, 5am to 1am on Thursday and 10am to 1am on Friday.

The route has the capacity to accommodate 46,000 passengers an hour in both directions.