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RTA tenders metro line connecting Dubai’s two airports

20 April 2026

 

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Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has invited consultants to bid for a contract to study and design the Airport Express Line, which will extend from Dubai International airport (DXB) in the Al-Garhoud area of the city to Al-Maktoum International airport (DWC) in the Jebel Ali area.

The proposed line will stretch about 55 kilometres (km) and include five stations that will provide passengers with facilities such as remote airline check-in, baggage drop-off and security screening.

Consultants have been allowed until June to submit their proposals.

The new line will run from the Red Line metro station at DXB through Al-Jaddaf, along Al-Khail Road to a new station at Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) before continuing on to DWC.

There will be two spur lines. The first will run from the new JVC station to the Al-Fardan Exchange metro station at Emirates Golf Club, while the second will branch out towards Business Bay, where another station will be built.

It appears that the new line will follow a similar route to that of the Etihad Rail high-speed railway project, which is now under construction and is due to be completed by 2030.

The Airport Express Line scheme is the latest metro project to be tendered by the RTA this year. Tendering activity is already ongoing for the Route 2020 extension, which will start from the Expo 2020 metro station and connect to DWC’s West Terminal.

Earlier in April, MEED exclusively reported that consultants had submitted bids for the project.

The extension to the line will run for about 3km and will feature two stations.

The existing Route 2020 metro link is a 15km-long line that branches off the Red Line at Jebel Ali metro station. The line comprises 11.8km of elevated tracks and 3.2km of tunnels, and has five elevated stations and two underground stations.

The RTA awarded the AED10.6bn ($2.9bn) design-and-build contract for the project to a consortium of Spain’s Acciona, Turkiye’s Gulermak and France’s Alstom in 2016.

Dubai’s plans for its metro network do not stop with connecting the extension of the Route 2020 metro line to DWC. There are long-term plans for further extensions.

Other metro projects

In October last year, MEED exclusively reported that the RTA had selected US-based engineering firm Aecom to provide consultancy services for the upcoming Dubai Metro Gold Line project, also known as Metro Line 4.

The Gold Line will start at Al-Ghubaiba in Bur Dubai. It will run parallel to – and alleviate pressure on – the existing Red Line, before heading inland to Business Bay, Meydan, Global Village and residential developments in Dubailand.

The other metro lines in the pipeline are the Purple Line and the Pink Line, both of which are in the early stages of development.

Firms are also bidding to update the emirate’s rail masterplan. In October 2025, MEED reported that 10 firms had submitted bids to undertake the project.

The rail masterplan study will update and modify the RTA’s rail network, which includes the Dubai Metro and Dubai Tram. These plans will support Dubai’s 2040 urban masterplan, which aims for all residents to be within a 30-minute metro or light-rail trip to their place of work. 

The existing network includes the Red and Green lines of the Dubai Metro and the Dubai Tram, which connects Al-Sufouh and Dubai Marina to the metro network. The last rail project to start operations in Dubai was the Red Line extension that opened for Expo 2020.

There are also existing and planned rail lines connecting Dubai to other emirates that are being developed and operated by Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Rail. These include passenger and freight services, as well as a high-speed rail connection.

In December 2024, the RTA awarded a AED20.5bn main contract for the Dubai Metro Blue Line project to a consortium of Turkish firms Limak Holding and Mapa Group and the Hong Kong office of China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation.

The Blue Line consists of 14 stations, including three interchange stations at Jaddaf, Rashidiya and International City 1, as well as a station in Dubai Creek Harbour.

By 2040, the number of daily passengers on the Blue Line is projected to reach 320,000. It will be the first Dubai Metro line to cross Dubai Creek, doing so on a 1,300-metre viaduct.

READ THE APRIL 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

Economic shock threatens long-term outlook; Riyadh adjusts to fiscal and geopolitical risk; GCC contractor ranking reflects gigaprojects slowdown.

Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the April 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

> GCC CONTRACTOR RANKING: Construction guard undergoes a shift
To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here

 

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Yasir Iqbal

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