Abu Dhabi plans circular railway

International Railway Journal, July, 2003

A TRANSPORT plan for the United Arab Emirate of Abu Dhabi has at its heart a 12km circular railway line with 19 stops. Highway improvements, more buses (together with air-conditioned bus stops), and restrictions on taxis in the central area are also part of the plan to ease congestion caused by a rapidly growing population.

The overall objective is to increase the number of people using public transport from 0.5% of the population to 5%. Population has grown from 140,000 in 1980 to 575,000 in 2000. It is expected to reach 1.25 million in 2020.

A previous plan to solve the problem involved creating a number of multi-storey underground car parks. It failed because most car owners preferred to park their cars in public areas where no charges were levied.