World expertise to support The Palm Monorail

Marwan Al Qamzi, Nakheel Head of Procurement & Contracts, and Katsunori Hayakawa, President, Osaka Monorail Co, Ltd. inked the agreement during a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony in Osaka. The signing was witnessed by H.E. Saeed Ali Al-Nowais, UAE Ambassador for Japan, and Hitoshi Masaki, Director General of Osaka Government, Middle East.

The Palm Monorail is the first monorail project to be constructed in the Middle East. The 5.4km long transport system will run between the Gateway Station at the trunk of The Palm Jumeirah and the Atlantis Station on the crescent, calling at two intermediate stations on the way at Trump International Hotel & Tower, and the Village Centre. The monorail will initially carry up to 2,400 passengers per hour per direction in four separate trains, each made up of three cars. At full capacity, the figure will rise to a maximum of 6,000 people in nine vehicles.

Osaka Monorail Co, Ltd. will provide technical support for the efficient operation of the monorail system with focus on the operation and maintenance framework; planning and staff training; and test operation supervision.

Marwan Al Qamzi said:

"The monorail system currently being constructed on The Palm Jumeirah by Nakheel and the Marubeni Corporation is without doubt the number one system in the world; however, in order to ensure a world-class transit system we still require the best maintenance operations and that is why world-leaders the Osaka Monorail Company have been chosen as technical support by Nakheel. The agreement also demonstrates the excellent relations between Dubai and Osaka - the twinning agreement has significantly helped to boost trade between the two cities and I look forward to many more partnerships in the future."

The overall project is collaboration between Nakheel and the Marubeni Corporation and features contributions from a consortium of Japanese companies. A UK company, Mott MacDonald, is functioning as the project manager. The mechanical and electrical system, and monorail vehicles, are being engineered, manufactured and commissioned by the leading railway system manufacturer in Japan - Hitachi Ltd. Hitachi's expertise and experience includes the delivery of high speed train systems and monorail systems to many cities around the world including Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Singapore and the UK.

Construction work, which began in March 2006, is scheduled for completion in December 2008. Bore piling and foundation works have been completed with the 28m, 80-ton concrete truck beams currently being laid at the site. Hitachi start actual production of the monorail from January 2007 with building work will be complete by December 2007. System installation and testing will be carried out by Hitachi from January 2008 to the scheduled completion date of December 2008.

Marubeni Corporation is also working with a civil and building work partner to develop the Monorail - a joint venture between the Ohbayashi Corporation, and Oriental Construction.

The Palm Monorail project will be full automatic driverless, although an attendant will be on board at all times. This requires a state-of-the-art and well proven automatic train operation control system developed by The Nippon Signal - the number one railway signal system manufacturer in Japan who have delivered the system for the Hitachi monorail system in Tokyo Disney Resort. Automatic fare collection manufacturers OMRON will also provide a state-of-the-art system using smart cards as tickets.