Dubai to launch metro with third of stations open

DUBAI : Dubai on Wednesday will open a metro network in a bid to cut dependency on cars and ease congestion, becoming the first city in the oil-rich Gulf to introduce rail as a commuting option.

Trains rolling out of stations will for the first time carry passengers along the Red Line, the first of two metro lines to open. A Green Line is scheduled to enter service in summer 2010.

But amid much media fanfare, travel on Wednesday evening is to be confined to dignitaries invited for the opening ceremony, while the service will be open to commuters from Thursday.

The city state has more than one million vehicles, with cars and buses accounting for 88 percent -- almost one car for every two inhabitants of a population estimated between 1.6 million and some two million, mostly foreigners.

But it remains to be seen whether motorists will be lured to leave their cars at home and hop onto the fancy air-conditioned blue trains, whose stations and connecting walkways are also temperature-controlled.

Petrol is subsidized in Dubai, as in the rest of the seven-member United Arab Emirates, while car loans were until recently easy to obtain, making the option of public transport less attractive.

And blazing sunshine and stifling humidity during a large part of the year in the southern Gulf desert country could make walking to and from stations uncomfortable.

But low-paid expatriate workers who are mostly South Asian and rely heavily on public buses will now have a faster alternative.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) says metro fares will be affordable for everyone. A trip from one end of the 52-kilometre (32-mile) Red Line to the other will cost 5.80 dirhams ($1.50).

Those who prefer not to ride on crowded carriages have the option of sitting on the wide leather seats of a "gold class" coach -- an unusual treat in a metro network -- at twice the price of standard tickets.

RTA says it made every effort to meet the deadline of the symbolic opening date of 09/09/09 for the Red Line since construction began in 2005, but only nine of its 29 stations will be opened on time.

Construction work remains visible at many of the incomplete stations of the mostly-elevated railroad that are set to open by February 2010, according to RTA.

It said on Monday that 90 percent of the work has been completed on the unfinished stations, pointing out that some were built to serve new neighborhoods which have yet to be completely developed.

Merkel defends role in Afghanistan

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, has said she "deeply regrets" the loss of any innocent life in Afghanistan, but rejected criticism over a Nato airstrike ordered by a German commander that is believed to have killed scores of civilians.
Addressing the country's parliament in Berlin on Tuesday, Merkel also called for an agreement this year on how to transfer responsibility for security in the country to Afghan officials.
Her comments come days after widespread outrage over the Nato airstrike in Kunduz, a northern province, last Friday which killed 54 people, according to Afghan officials.
"Every innocent person killed in Afghanistan is one too many. Any innocent person killed or hurt, including through German actions, I deeply regret," Merkel said, and promised an "open" inquiry.
"We will not gloss over anything, but we will not accept any premature condemnation," she said.
"I refuse to tolerate that, either from Germany or from abroad."
'Big mistake'
Earlier on Tuesday, the Nato-led force in Afghanistan said it believed civilians were killed or injured in Friday's strike, after previously saying that civilians were only harmed.
General Stanley McChrystal, the head of international forces in the country, has ordered an investigation into the bombing.
The strike was reportedly ordered by a German commander after Taliban fighters hijacked two fuel trucks on a Nato supply route from Tajikstan.
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, called the decision a major "error of judgment".
Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, also called the airstrike a "big mistake", while Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, said it was a "very, very sad event".
Power transfer
But Merkel defended Germany's role in Afghanistan, where it has more than 4,200 troops stationed.
"No one should deceive himself: the consequences of not acting will be attributed to us just as much as the consequences of acting," she said.
"Everyone who calls for Germany to step aside from fighting international terrorism, particularly in Afghanistan, should consider that."
The chancellor said she had spoken to Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, about beginning a new era in the country.
"Now is the right moment, together with the new Afghanistan leadership, to set out at the end of this year how this transfer of responsibility will happen," she said.