Monorail Opens Route from First to Last Stations on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah

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(DUBAI, UAE) -- It won't open officially until April this year but last week VIPs from Nakheel and Dubai's Road Transport Authority (RTA) took the first ride on the long awaited monorail that will serve people living or vacationing on Palm Jumeirah.

The Palm Monorail is the first in the Middle East. The route isn't long, 3.39 miles and takes only eight minutes. Right now it doesn't connect to anything. But eventually passengers will transfer directly to Dubai's new metro system due to open its first section in September.

Chris O'Donnell, CEO, Nakheel said, "On the first official journey between Gateway station and Atlantis station representatives from both Nakheel and RTA were able to experience this fabulous example of modern transportation, design and construction."

Abdulmajid Al Khaja, CEO of RTA, added, "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."    



A consortium of leading international companies led by Japan's Marubeni Corporation, created a fully automatic and driverless system although Nakheel promises an attendant will always be on board. The monorail will initially carry up to 2,400 passengers per hour in each direction in four separate trains of three cars.

The Palm Monorail sets global standards for the transportation industry.  State-of-the-art technology has been employed to overcome a number of challenges including Dubai's unique climatic conditions, and protecting the communities of Palm Jumeirah from noise pollution with a virtually silent track system.

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