As part of its effort to get people out of cars and onto public transport, Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Zhong Tang Sky Railway Group to build a suspended rail transport system in Dubai.
Since 2016, Zhong Tang has been testing its "sky train" system in Chengdu. Lithium battery-powered carriages zip along under a fixed, box-girder track like an upside down monorail, 5m in the air.
- See the Chengdu sky train test track in action:
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The agreement was signed by Abdul Mohsen Ibrahim Younes (pictured), the chief executive of RTA’s Rail Agency, and Tang Tong, chairman of Zhong Tang.
Dubai is presently dominated by the car. Younes commented at the ceremony that a suspended railway would be part of his policy goal of raising the proportion of journeys made by public transport to 26% by 2030.
He said: "Realising this objective requires developing advanced futuristic transport systems and improving the sustainable transport network in Dubai to encourage people and visitors to use public transport."
He added that RTA was signing agreements with "a host of specialist companies" in the development of suspended transport systems to "obtain the best technologies and select the best systems for implementation in Dubai".
Image: An online signing ceremony for the suspended rail system (Government of Dubai)
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