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So the final testing of the Dubai trams is underway and will be ongoing for the next 3 months. It is hard to believe that the completion of the first phase of the Dubai Tram is nearly here. It seems such a long time ago that it was announced and I set up this website. Even after that the work was put on hold during the financial crises and the state of the roads down at JBR was a bit of a nightmare to say the least, with many people not expecting the tram system ever to be finished! Now the start date is nearly here and in November the…

it has been confirmed that 4 new footbridges will be built to serve the al Sufouh Tram network. All four footbridges will be air conditioned just like the Dubai Metro footbridges and will enable passengers to get to various areas of Dubai on foot after travelling on the Tram, so that the Dubai Tram is used by the maximum number of people. The 4 bridges will be at Tecom, Dubai marina Mall and 2 bridges on Al Sufouh Road itself.

Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Matkoum has issued a decree advising which authorities are responsible for the various different operations of the Dubai Tram. This decree also gives details of the various fines that will be issued if anyone crosses a red light intersection with the tramway – whether they cause an accident or injury or not. Fines and driving bans vary from 2,000 dirhams to 30,000 dirhams and range from 30 days to one year. Further details can be found at Emirates 24/7. The message that is being sent seems to be clear – do not cross a read light on the Dubai Tramway!…

So it was reported by Emirates 24/7 that the RTA was soon to begin testing on the new trams that arrived in the country last year. There will be 3 lots of tests done with a view to the al sufouh tram opening in November 2014, as has been the plan for a while now. The tram will link up with 2 Dubai Metro stations at Jumeirah Lake Towers and Dubai Marina, making the public transport system in Dubai more integrated and widespread. Those living in the Marina and JLT areas as well as JBR must be looking forward to the tram system starting up and the endless roadworks to…

The National newspaper reports today that testing for the new trams for the Al Sufouh tram network has got underway in France. Mattar al Tayer was in France taking delivery of the first trams at GEC Alstom yesterday and progress seems to be underway to get the tram system up and running on target. The testing will continue on the trams until they are delivered to Dubai, which is scheduled for the end of the year.

The first delivery of 11 trams was made in a presentation to Mattar al Tayer, chairman of the RTA, when he visited the GEC Alstom factory in France recently, as was reported in the Railway Gazette yesterday (June 17th 2013).

According to Construction Week, the first tram will be delivered from it’s manufacturing point in France, on 11 December 2013. Eight trams will be used in the first phase of the project which is due to be completed in November 2014.