RTA Issue Certification to Nakheel and SMRT to Operate Palm Jumeirah Monorail

Palm Jumeirah Monorail totally owned by Nakheel

RTA Issue Certification to Nakheel and SMRT to Operate Palm Jumeirah Monorail


Dubai (United Arab Emirates): The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) issued Safety Certificates to Nakheel and SMRT Engineering (Middle East) FZE for the Palm Jumeirah Transit System; the first passenger railway in the UAE.

“Safety Regulation and Planning Department has issued two Safety Certificates for the Palm Jumeirah Transit System (Monorail); the first of these certificates is for the safety of the equipment that makes up the monorail. RTA has issued this certificate to Nakheel, the owner of the railway. The second certificate is for the safety of the operation and maintenance activities of SMRT Engineering (Middle East) Ltd, who has been contracted by Nakheel to operate the railway” announced Abdul Mohsen Ibrahim Younes, CEO of Strategy and Corporate Governance Sector.

“RTA Safety Regulation and Planning Department has been working closely with Nakheel and SMRT since the early stages of the project to ensure that the safety of the railway is in line with good, internationally recognized practice and standards. RTA’s assessments are in addition to the rigorous safety assessments made by Nakheel and SMRT, which included use of an Independent Safety Assessor. RTA’s assessments involved design reviews, site inspections, witnessing of tests, emergency exercises and audits throughout the life of the project. RTA will continue to monitor the safe operation of the railway through regular audits” added Abdul Mohsen.

“To support its safety certification activities for the Monorail, RTA has been working closely with several internationally recognized railway safety experts, including UK’s Office of Rail Regulation”, continued Abdul Mohsen.

He went further to add: “RTA will soon develop new legislations setting out a new role for RTA as the Railway Safety Regulation Authority. This role will fall to RTA’s Safety Regulation and Planning Department which will conduct due diligence. The new laws will set requirements for safety certification, safety regulation and accident investigation for all railways in the Emirate of Dubai, including the Dubai Metro”.

For his part Amair Saleem, Director of the Safety Regulation and Planning Department at RTA, said: “The new laws will grant powers to the Safety Regulation Authority that will help ensure that all railways within the Emirate of Dubai are constructed and operated safely.”

The Palm Jumeirah Transit System, which opened at 08:00 on Thursday 30th April 2009, is totally owned and operated by Nakheel and its a monorail that operates over 5.4 km of track between Gateway Tower at the Dubai mainland end of the Palm Jumeirah and the Atlantis theme park. When the surrounding property developments are complete, there will be intermediate stations to serve Trump Tower and Village Centre.