Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has officially awarded the contract for the Route 2020 metro project to Expolink, a consortium of French, Spanish and Turkish companies.
The $2.9 billion (AED10.6 billion) deal covers the proposed 15km extension of the Red Line of the Dubai Metro from Nakheel Harbour & Tower Station to the site of Expo 2020, as well as the supply of 50 Alstom trains.
The contract was signed by Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General of the RTA and partners in the Expolink Consortium Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Chairman and CEO of Alstom; Jose Manuel Entrecanales, Chairman and CEO of Acciona; and Kemal Guleryuz, Chairman and CEO of Gulermack, the RTA said in a statement. 
The extended line will include a 11.8km viaduct and 3.2km underground track. The project encompasses seven stations including a transfer station with the Red Line, the Expo Station, three elevated stations, and two underground stations. Acciona and Gulermack will cater to civil works, and the French Thales Group will provide the technological systems.
The test run of the newly extended line is anticipated to start in the final quarter of 2019, and the official service is scheduled for launch on 20 May 2020, five months before the opening of Expo 2020, according to Al Tayer.
