Dubai Metro Opens

A hat tip to Larry Marczak for these links as well as those in the Yemen post:

You may have had the impression lately that the last person to move out of Dubai was expected to turn out the lights, given the financial crunch, the real estate collapse, and all that, but Dubai has just opened its new Metro, with the Ruler doing the honors.

The Ruler, Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid Al Maktum, rode the first train with many other VIPs. (Trivia question: When do you think the Ruler will next ride the Metro? And most of the other VIPs?)

Larry notes that the Dubai Metro actually has its own song, available in a rhythm and blues and a rock version (MP3 downloads available at the link, along with the lyrics). While the words "Dubai" and "mean streets" have never occupied the same space in my mind before, the text doesn't immediately strike me as a great selling point, especially when the city state seems to be in rapid implosion. Larry also wondered in an e-mail if the DC Metro has a song. Given the fact that this week a Metrobus hit yet another pedestrian (the unofficial motto of Metro is "stop us before we kill again") and the system also shut down the National Airport station over the entire Labor Day weekend, I suspect the DC Metro song would be even less appropriate than the Dubai one strikes me as being for Dubai. [Belated update: those who know early country music might agree that "The Wreck of the Old '97" would be a great DC Metro song.]

A trivia point I think I'm right about: the UAE not only had no subway until now, it had not a single kilometer of rail line. There are no railroads at all, except the new Metro.

I'm not sure there are other subways in the Middle East, other than Cairo's Metro. Tunis has above-ground metro commuter trains, and Israel is building some new systems, and there are lots of plans elsewhere. Turkey likes to claim that it's really in Europe, and Istanbul certainly is, but Istanbul also likes to claim that its Tünel is the second oldest subway in the world. Surface transport still dominates most places, however.

So, good luck to all the office workers of Dubai who are about to become straphangers. I'm sure the executives will keep their drivers and limos, but at least everybody else can move fast underground.

[UPDATE: My apologies to Tehran for not knowing about its Metro, (I did know about Haifa's but had forgotten about it), and my thanks to my commenters for filling the gaps in my knowledge. See the comments for more detail.] [Okay: and Ankara. And Istanbul has a subway besides the Tünel. And Algiers is building one (and perhaps always will be.] Note to self: Self, don't pontificate without googling a bit more. You're an editor after all, and your readers will keep you honest.