Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said the tunnelling on the Route 2020 Project, which span 15 km from Nakheel Harbour and Tower Station up to the site of the Expo 2020, is progressing at a steady pace with more than 50 per cent of the excavation work already completed.

The scope of work includes tunnelling of a 3.2-km-long stretch at depths varying from 12 to 36 m, while the completion rate of the construction of stations ranges from four to 42 per cent, said the statement from RTA.

A giant tunnel boring machine 'Al Wugeisha Expo 2020' began drilling work at Al Furjan and has now gone past the Discovery Gardens and reached the underground station nearby Jumeirah Golf Estates, last February, it stated.

It will continue tunnelling work up to the Dubai Investment Park and all the tunnel-related work is scheduled for completion in December this year, it added.

"Currently, the architectural, constructional and electromechanical designs are being developed for the Expo Station, the elevated and underground stations, and the Nakheel Harbour and Tower Station," remarked Mattar Al Tayer, the director-general and chairman of the board of executive directors of the RTA.

"The completion rate of the underground station at Jumeirah Golf Estates has reached 42 per cent whereas at DIP it has reached eight per cent," he stated.

Al Tayer was speaking to the media after an inspection tour of the stations of the Route 2020 Project. He later attended a briefing by Abdul Mohsen Ibrahim Younes, the chief executive of the Rail Agency, and Abdul Rida Abu Al Hasan, the executive director of Rail Projects Planning and Development, about the progress of the tunnelling work, which started last October.

Al Tayer was also briefed about the work progress in the metro stations.

The completion rate has reached 14 per cent in the elevated station at Al Furjan, 12 per cent at the Discovery Gardens, seven per cent in Expo Station, and three per cent in Nakheel Harbour and Tower Station.

The completion rate has reached 50 per cent in the deep foundations of the Nakheel Harbour and Tower Station. The footbridge linking the station and the Park-N-Ride Terminal has been removed to start construction work in the new statio, said Al Tayer.

The project contractor has completed construction work in the deep foundations and pillars at the Gardens area. Work is currently under way on fabricating the metal structures of the elevated station at the Discovery Gardens, where the completion rate has reached 35 per cent, he added.

Expressing delight at the work progress of the Route 2020 Project, Al Tayer said it was moving as per the approved time schedule. "The first of the new metro carriages are expected to arrive in July this year," he stated.

Construction works on the viaducts are expected to be completed by November 2018, while all the rail works of Route 2020 will be ready in 2019. The RTA will start the test-run of the metro in February 2020, he added.-TradeArabia News Service