Free Tram Transportation In Abu Dhabi: An Analysis Report Example

Introduction: Transportation in Metropolitan cities

Transportation has always been, and is a major characteristic feature of all cities big and small around the world. The need to travel and visit faraway lands in search of trade and livelihood in ancient times have led to the evolution of a number of means of transportation that are seen today. Mention needs to be made of the immense development that has taken place in land, water and air travel. Travel and transportation is always interlinked with the human population of the area, and very importantly, occupation of the inhabitants . The regularity and means of transportation vary from one particular geographical area to another, and much of the evolution and development of the transportation system in a particular place is influenced by the demand of the residents to travel .
For example, the need and frequency to travel in the countryside and farmlands may not be as high as in the case of urban metropolitan areas. As a result of which, the demand for cheaper and more convenient modes of public transportation is much higher in metropolitan cities as compared to those of rural areas. People need to find conveyance from point A to point B on a regular basis for work and earning livelihoods. At the same time, the development of a particular area is also dependent on the easy accessibility of resources, which make it important for metropolitan cities to develop convenient and highly economic modes of transportation to the public, which connects one end of these cities to another.
Perhaps the most common form of transportation all over the world is through land – either by road or rail. What makes rail travel all the more feasible is that a large number of people can be transported in one vehicle between fixed routes comparatively faster than in the case of road travel. If comparison is made of the available means of road and rail public transport, one can easily see that not only travel by rail is more convenient, but it is also economical to the general public as well . This is one of the many prime reasons for the popularity and increased demands of metro rail travel in metropolitan cities across the world. Rapid Transit System, commonly known as Metro rail by commuters around the world, and people also associate it with different names according to the mode of travel in the implementation of such systems. The most significant feature of Rapid Transit System is that it runs on tracks which connect different points of the city to one another. Successful metro rail networks around the world connect different parts and districts of metropolitan cities together, which make it a mode of faster conveyance.
Many are of the opinion that the name Metro Rail has been derived from both the fact that it is a mean of commute in metropolitan cities, and also from the fact that the first ever such service to be started in 1863 in London was also called the Metropolitan Railways .
Around the world, the system of public transport is known by many names – mostly due to the mode of travel. For example, in London, the public transport system is referred to as Tube as it mostly travels underground through tunnels. While in the United States, the same is popularly known as subways. In metropolitan cities around the world, the extent and coverage of the network also differ. While some may be limited to inner city limits such as in Spain, others may extend the coverage through a combination of inner city lines with separate commuter rail network or buses for easy conveyance of the commuters.
What is very significant in case of all such arrangements of rail travel is that each system consists of lines or circuits, which are strategically designed to connect the various stations, designated for each locality. In some cities such as New York, different colored lines are used to depict the circuit and routes of the different lines, while in case of others such as presently in Kolkata, there is one single line connecting the northern fringes of the city to another . It also needs to be highlighted that in some of these metropolitan cities, the networks of lines resemble a complex grid of lines crisscrossing one another. The main goal of implementation of the metro rail network is connecting different parts of the city with others and more often than not, the presence of physical and geographical barriers lead to the formation of different “topologies” which are characteristic of such networks.
For example, in Glasgow, the network resembles a circle and is perceived to offer a good coverage to the commuters . An improvisation of the same is called the ‘circle-radial’ network which is the characteristic feature of the metro rail lines in the cities of Moscow, Tokyo, Shanghai, Madrid, Beijing, London and Seoul. The implementation of a metro line which incorporates the circle-radial network is associated with providing wider and faster connectivity throughout the city in various routes. The network often resembles ‘secants’ where two different lines crisscross each other at specific points. It is perceived that this form of network topology helps creation of a faster network as due to the intersection of lines at specific points only, there is very less requirement for trains to share the same lines.
Metro rail also accommodates transit thorough densely populated areas and in order to provide the services effectively, often a ‘complex-grid’ topology is used like in the cases of Delhi, Berlin, New York, Osaka, Paris and Shenzhen. This network topology is particularly useful to reduce the pressure of densely populated areas by connecting stops more frequently as compared to other network topologies .
Even though it might seem to be complicated, the benefits are believed to outweigh the complications of implementation of this system. In metropolitan areas that are characterized by the need to connect but fewer passengers as compared to a complex-grid topology, an X-shaped topology is implemented whereby two distinct metro lines converge at some points, only to spread out later at another. This network topology is the characteristic feature of the networks in Oslo, Rio de Janeiro, Stockholm, San Francisco, Brussels and Amsterdam. A diameter line network is characterized by the presence of a single line across destinations and the network or Rapid transit system in Mumbai, Helsinki, Algiers, Lima, Yekaterinburg and Sendai bear resemblance to this feature. The other popular forms of network line are the ‘cross’ and ‘vesica piscis’ which intersect at densely populated areas, only to spread out to lesser populated areas.
The technology is said to have rapidly evolved from steam engine driven lines to modern day monorails, magnetic tracks and some systems make use of guided rubber tracks. The spread of this technology from London has evolved public transport in many of these Metropolitan cities, as New York is regarded to be the most complex network of metro spread over more than 1350 kilometers and 468 stations .
Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo and Moscow are regarded to be the busiest metro networks of the world, based on the number of passengers using the services annually. A typical Metro rail vehicle consists of a number of cars or compartments or bogies. The above facts have been possible due to a specific feature of the metro rail, which makes it the most economic and convenient modes of transport in metropolitan cities – a completely exclusive line of tracks which are neither accessible, nor can be used by any other form of commute in Metropolitan cities.
Since the 1980s, cable cars have consolidated a few highlights of fast travel: light rail frameworks (cable cars) run all alone privileges of-way, hence staying away from blockage; they stay on the same level as transports and autos. Some light rail frameworks have lifted or underground areas. Both new and redesigned cable car frameworks permit speedier speed and higher limit, and are a shoddy distinct option for development of fast travel, particularly in littler cities.
As of May 2012, 184 urban areas have manufactured fast travel systems. The capital expense is high, just like the danger of expense overwhelm and profit shortage; open financing is regularly needed. Quick travel is infrequently seen as a different option for a far reaching street transport framework with numerous motorways; the fast travel framework permits higher limit with less land use, less ecological effect, and a lower cost.
Raised or underground frameworks in downtown areas permit the vehicle of individuals without involving costly land, and license the city to grow minimally without physical hindrances. Motorways regularly discourage adjacent private area values, yet closeness to a quick travel station frequently triggers business and private development, with expansive travel situated advancement office and lodging squares being constructed. Also, a productive travel framework can diminish the monetary welfare misfortune brought on by the increment of populace thickness in a metropolis .
Fast travel frameworks have high altered expenses. Most frameworks are openly possessed, by either nearby governments, travel powers or national governments. Capital ventures are regularly part of the way or totally financed by levy, instead of by traveller tolls, however should frequently contend with financing for streets.
The travel frameworks may be worked by the holder or by a privately owned business through an open administration commitment. The holders of the frameworks frequently likewise own the joining transport or rail frameworks, or are individuals from the nearby transport affiliation, taking into consideration free exchanges between modes. All travel frameworks work at a shortfall, obliging passage income, promoting and appropriations to take care of expenses.
The farebox recuperation degree, a proportion of ticket salary to working expenses, is frequently used to survey operational productivity, with a few frameworks including Hong Kong's MTR Corporation, and Taipei accomplishing recuperation proportions of well more than 100%. This disregards both substantial capital expenses brought about in building the framework, which are frequently financed with delicate loans and whose overhauling is rejected from estimations of benefit, and also subordinate income, for example, wage from land portfolios. Some metros, including Hong Kong, are even financed by the offer of area whose worth has been expanded by the building of the system, a methodology known as quality catch .
A pre-metro outline implies that an underground fast travel framework is fabricated in the downtown area, however just a light rail or cable car framework in suburbia. Alternately, different urban areas have picked to assemble a full metro in suburbia, yet run cable cars in city lanes to spare the expense of lavish passages. In North America, inter-urbans were built as road running rural cable cars, without the level detachment of quick travel. Pre-metros likewise permit a progressive overhaul of existing tramways to fast travel, accordingly spreading the speculation costs over the long run. They are most regular in Germany with the name Stadtbahn.
Rural suburbanite rail is an overwhelming rail framework that works at a lower recurrence than urban fast travel, with higher normal velocities, frequently just serving one station in every town and town. Worker rails of a few urban areas, (for example, German S-Bahns, Chennai rail, Australian CityRail, Danish S-tog and so forth) generally give a mass travel inside city as urban metro frameworks. As resistance, in a few urban areas, (for example, PATH in New York, Dubai Metro, Los Teques Metro, Tyne & Wear Metro, MetroSur and different lines of Madrid Metro, Singapore MRT, Taipei Metro, Kuala Lumpur's RapidKL Light Rail Transit and so forth.) the chiefly urban fast travel frameworks branch out to the closest rural areas.
A few urban areas have settled on a mixture arrangement, with two levels of quick travel: a urban framework, (for example, the Paris Metro, Berlin U-Bahn, London Underground) and a rural framework, (for example, their partners RER, S-Bahn, future Crossrail, separately). The rural frameworks run all alone tracks with by and large high recurrence (however less much of the time than the urban framework), and here and there worked by the national lines.
In a few urban communities the national line goes through passages in the downtown area; infrequently passenger trains have direct exchange to the quick travel framework, on the same or bordering platforms. California's BART framework works as a crossover of the two: in suburbia, it capacities like a suburbanite rail, with longer prepares, longer interims, and more separation between stations; in downtown San Francisco, numerous lines join and interims drop to typical tram levels, and stations get to be closer together. Likewise, some other urban or "close urban" quick travel frameworks (Guangfo Metro, East Rail Line in Hong Kong, Seoul Subway Line 1, and so forth.) serves the bi- and multi-core agglomerations .

Implementation of Tram network in Abu Dhabi

Upheld by cable car and transport feeder benefits on pretty nearly 131 KM, 'Abu Dhabi Metro' rail framework is expected to serve a considerable extent of traveler excursions and soothe movement blockages on the roadway system , and additionally to give ideal integration between Abu Dhabi Island and its rural areas and up and coming groups, for example, Saadiyat, Yas Islands and Al Raha Beach.
The Surface Transport Master Plan (STMP), a real activity taken by the Department of Transport (DoT) in Abu Dhabi to build up an exhaustive arrangement for surface transport – including diverse modes for travelers and cargo, for example, streets, metro and Light Rail Transit (LRT) – showed the requirement for making an excellent, high-limit metro rail framework in Abu Dhabi as highlighted previously.
In light of the STMP's evidence, DoT is presently setting up an itemized study in a joint effort with driving global consultancies to guarantee execution of the 'Abu Dhabi Metro' extend as per its timetable and specialized determinations.

The study will likewise be eliminated on 3 (three) separate stages as takes after:

Stage 1: Feasibility Study
Stage 2: Preliminary Design
Stage 3: Final Contract Documentation and Tender Appreciation.
Layout of the proposed Tram system and suitability to Abu Dhabi
The venture includes development of a 340 km long light rail travel system interfacing the Abu Dhabi City to the Saadiyat and Yas Islands. The venture will be partitioned into 3 lines. The primary line will join the Central Business District by connecting Al Reem Island, Sowwah Island, downtown Abu Dhabi Island and the Marina Mall. The second line will connect the Al Raha Beach Development, Yas Island, Masdar City and the Abu Dhabi International Airport while the third line will interface the Saadiyat Island and the Capital District .

Venture Overview

The DoT arranges one 18 km line, 5 km of which will be underground, to gone through the core of the principle Abu Dhabi island, serving the focal business locale and real attractions. The extent of the metro bundle will envelop stations and auxiliary structures; civils (utility redirection, street, spans, viaduct, passage and shaft development); moving stock; rail frameworks; and station offices. There will be 12 stations, eight over the ground and four underground, and the line will be overhauled by completely computerized, 80m moving stock. The DoT highlighted that it accepted a test for bidders would be the prerequisite for the inner temperature of the moving stock to be kept up at an aerated and cooled temperature of 24 degrees centigrade.

Light Rail Transport (LRT)

The LRT system will involve two lines covering the north segment of Abu Dhabi Island with one line running for 15 km with 24 stops and the other for 13 km with 21 stops. Both lines will rundown the center of streets, so the entire of the influenced streets will need to be upgraded and developed to consolidate asphalts, movement paths, the cable car and arranging. The lines will be isolated from other activity however will run at the same level as other movement on the streets.
The cable cars will be driver worked (so observable pathway will be critical), ought to have the capacity to oblige up to a most extreme of 300 travelers, have a low floor to encourage debilitated access, have a proportion of seating to aggregate limit of 25 every penny and be aerated and cooled to 25 degrees centigrade (in addition to or short two degrees). Three support offices will likewise structure a piece of the LRT bundle .

Transport Rapid Transport (BRT)

The BRT system will include one shut circle which is 14 km long with 25 stops and will run either in the center or along the edge of streets, mostly isolated from other activity. Stations will be like the LRT system, transports will be driver worked (so again observable pathway will be critical), convey up to 160 travelers and will have the same seating proportion and aerating and cooling necessities as the LRT cable cars.
The investigation and reasonable outline stage for the Project has now been finished and the DoT hopes to finish its preparatory building, configuration and ecological examination before the current year is over.
Abu Dhabi Metro is an arranged metro line that will be a piece of a bigger travel system for the city of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The whole travel system will be 131 km long when complete, including an 18-kilometer underground metro line, two light rail lines and transport quick travel. Stage 1 of the system (60 kilometers) ought to be finished by 2017, with a further (70 kilometers) in later stages. It is relied upon to cost Dh7 billion.

The framework will be made out of four fundamental lines:

18 kilometers substantial rail metro of which 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) will be underground
15 kilometers light rail (blue line) with 24 stops
13 kilometers light rail (green line) with 21 stops
14 kilometers transport fast travel circle with 25 stops
The metro will basically interface the proposed Central Business District with Sowwah Island, Reem Island, Saadiyat Island, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi International Airport and Masdar, Capital City District, Emerald Gateway, Zayed Sports City and ADNEC.

References

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Subway, NYC. (2012, March 19). Subway FAQ: Facts and Figures. Retrieved April 3, 2015, from New York Subway: http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Subway_FAQ:_Facts_and_Figures
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