Pandrol UK Limited has been awarded a major contract to supply 361,500 resilient baseplate assemblies for a major new metro system in Dubai. The contract was won against stiff international competition.

Groundworks for the new Dubai Metro, the first railway system of its kind to be built in the Arabian Peninsula, commenced in February 2006.

A growing trend of international business relocations, increased tourism and rapidly growing population have all combined to provide growing pressure on the city’s road network.

The Government of Dubai created the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to address the issue of transportation systems in Dubai, the flagship project being the Dubai Metro.

Initially, Dubai Metro will consist of three lines. The 52.1 km Red Line will run from Rashidiya to Jebel Ali.The majority of the line will be elevated, except between Port Saeed and Burjuman, where it will be constructed underground. There will be 23 elevated stations, one at-grade station and 4 underground stations.

The 17.6km Green Line will run from Al Ittihad Square to Rashidiya bus station, through Deira City Centre and Dubai Airport Terminals 1, 2, and 3.  It will be progressively extended to serve the Deira and Bur Dubai central areas and Souks up to Burjuman and Wafi shopping centres.  Again, the route is primarily constructed as elevated tracks, comprising 8 stations.  The underground section of the line comprises 5 stations, excluding Union Square and Burjuman, which are interchanges with the Red line.

As mentioned, apart from the city centre, where both lines will travel underground, the two lines will run elevated, on specially designed viaducts, and the proximity to existing buildings meant that noise and vibration attenuation was  an important factor when designing the trackwork.

Initial invitations were issued by Mitsubishi Heavy industries (The contractor appointed by the RTA ) in line with the contract specification however this was relaxed to allow a wider choice of support assemblies. However in the face of stiff competition from several international companies an adaptation of the baseplate design previously used in Singapore was chosen. This assembly which has given excellent service in Singapore provided a good performance reference coupled with fully compliant technical specification.

The Pandrol design consisting of a single ‘e’ clip baseplate assembly incorporating two pads, one above and one below the baseplate, providing a level of noise and vibration attenuation which meets fully the contract requirements.

This assembly will be installed throughout the entire Metro network. For the contract Pandrol will supply 306,500 baseplate sets for the main line and 55,000 baseplate sets for the depot from December 2006 and with final deliveries expect to be made in January 2008.