May 29, 2005: Shaikh Mohammad at the official groundbreaking ceremony organised by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority at Mina Al Salam Hotel with Mattar Al Tayer, Abdul Majeed Al Khaja and Badriya Al Khalifa.
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May 29, 2005: Qasim Sultan, then Director General of Dubai Muncipality, and Susumu Uchida, Board Member of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, signing the Metro contract.
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October 24, 2005: Steel beams are put in place as work on the Dubai Metro started at Al Ittihad Park in Deira.
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April 11, 2006: Road dug up on Al Rigga Road.
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A worker - who seems to have been caught in a web - puts final touches to a foundation piling for a bridge in Al Awir.
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August 23, 2006: Work in progress on the pillars for the Metro near exit 22 on Shaikh Zayed Road. ![](cid:image006.jpg@01CA2FA3.1B21B8D0)
March 13, 2007: Workers carry out tunnelling work for laying Metro tracks. A tunnel-boring machine, Al Wugeisha, was used to bore tunnels.
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March 13, 2007: Contruction workers prepare the steel structure for piers for the elevated track at the site of a Metro station.
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March 13, 2007: Tunnelling work being carried out at the Union Square Station.
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March 13, 2007: The Metro's tracks take shape along Shaikh Zayed Road.
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November 5, 2007: Traffic proceeds unimpeded as construction of the elevated tracks continues.
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March 2008: The tunnel-boring machine, Al Wugeisha, breaks through the wall.
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April 25, 2008: Trains are hoisted onto the tracks.
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September 21, 2008: Shaikh Mohammad during the inspection tour of the Jebel Ali Industrial Metro Station, which was the first one to be completed.
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August 26, 2009: A Dubai Metro train makes a trial run on the Red Line parallel to Al Khawaneej Road in the area near Dubai International Airport's Terminal 3.
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September 2009: A view of the Jebel Ali Industrial Station.
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September 1, 2009: A view of the Mall of the Emirates Station at night on the Red Line which runs parallel to Shaikh Zayed Road, in Al Barsha.
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BEFORE September 22, 2004: Shaikh Zayed Road as it looked before the work on the Metro started.
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TODAY September 6, 2009: Shaikh Zayed Road today - with the Metro infrastructure in place.
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Dubai Metro will not be opened to the general public on September 9 - the launch day, Gulf News has learnt. "There will be an official launch on September 9 but the Metro will be opened to the public only on September 10 from 6am," said a senior official at the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority. His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, will inaugurate the Metro operations at 9pm on 09.09.09. The launch ceremony will be held at Mall of the Emirates. Preparations are being finalised at the mall galleria. After the ceremony, Shaikh Mohammad, along with other dignitaries, VIPs and invited guests will ride the first train from Mall of the Emirates station to Al Rashidiya station. There will be ceremonies at selected stations which will be visited by Shaikh Mohammad.
Meanwhile, test runs of the trains of the world's largest automated driverless Metro are being conducted on the Red Line. RTA employees have been using the train as part of the full dress rehearsal leading up to the official launch. They are also using the various facilities at the stations and inside the trains to ensure that everything is ready for the launch.
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