Our weekly “New Starts” roundup of new and newsworthy transportation projects worldwide.

Dubai Gets Its Metro Ready for 2020 World Expo
Some Americans may believe that the era of “world’s fairs” is over, but international expositions are still being held, with the every-five-years World Expos, sanctioned by the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) in Paris, at the top of the heap. (The U.S. withdrew from the international body in 2001, but the BIE would welcome its return.)

The next of these is set to take place in Dubai in 2020, and Global Rail News reports that the Gulf emirate is preparing to extend its metro to the Expo site.

The 15-km (9.32-mile), seven-station Route 2020 is part of a €2.6 billion ($2.89 billion U.S.) upgrade of the Dubai Metro Red Line. The line will branch off the existing Red Line at the Nakheel Harbour and Tower station and run to an “iconic” station at the Expo site, and 11.8 km (7.33 miles) of the line will be elevated. The remaining 3.2 km (1.99 miles) will be underground.

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority has awarded the contract to build the extension to Expolink, a consortium consisting of Alstom, Acciona and Gulermak. Alstom will build the 50 5-car train sets needed to operate the line and supply and integrate the power supply, communications and fare control systems as well as track work and platform screen doors.

New Extension Moves Istanbul Closer to 400-km Metro Goal
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality moved a few kilometers closer to its goal of having 400 route kilometers (248.55 route miles) of metro in service by 2019 Monday with the opening of a 4.5-km (2.8-mile) extension of Metro Line M4.

The new underground extension takes the line from its original eastern terminus Kartal to a new terminus at Tavşantepe in Kaynarca, with intermediate stations at Yakacık (Adnan Kahveci) and Pendik. Total trip time from Kadiköy to Tavşantepe is 38 minutes.

According to an International Railway Journal report, another 7.4-km (4.6-mile) extension of the line from Tavşantepe to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport is now under construction with a scheduled completion date of 2018.

Tram service has been restored in Avdiivka. (Photo by MOs810)

Line M4, the first metro line on the Asian side of Istanbul, opened for service in 2012. It is not physically connected to any other Istanbul metro line but has interchange points with the Marmaray regional rail line and the Metrobüs BRT, both of which cross the Bosphorus Strait.

Tram Service Returns to Eastern Ukraine City
One of the casualties of the fighting between government forces and Russian-backed separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine has been restored to partial health: the tram line in the eastern Ukranian city of Avdiivka.

Railway Gazette International reports that service returned to the northern portion of the city’s 12-km (7.46-mile) tram line Oct. 1 after a nearly two-year hiatus. A single KTM-5M3 tram operates between Trampark and the Avdiivka Coke and Chemical Plant. The fare is 1 hryvnia (4 cents U.S.), which is one of the lowest transit fares in the world.

Service on the line was suspended on Jan. 22, 2015, after both its tracks and its depot were damaged by shelling. Repairs to the tram and depot have allowed service to resume even as renewed fighting engulfs the region.

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Next City contributor Sandy Smith is the home and real estate editor at Philadelphia magazine. Over the years, his work has appeared in Hidden City Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer and other local and regional publications. His interest in cities stretches back to his youth in Kansas City, and his career in journalism and media relations extends back that far as well.

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