World’s largest airport peoplemover to be built in Dubai

World’s largest airport peoplemover to be built in Dubai UAE: Dubai’s government-owned Dubai Aviation City Corp has awarded a turnkey contract for the construction of what the winning consortium says will be the world’s largest airport automated peoplemover, with an ‘unprecedented’ length of 50 km and nine stations. The APM serving the first phase of the future Al Maktoum International Airport is to be built by a consortium of Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, its local subsidiary MHI Mobility Engineering Services and Indian conglomerate Larsen & Toubro. MHI said Dallas Fort Worth International Airport’s Skylink is the current longest airport APM at 8 km, while the Plane Train at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is the busiest with 91 million passengers/year. Construction consortium Consortium leaders MHI and MHI-MESC will handle the design, procurement and testing of the 165 vehicles and the signalling system, as well as overall system integration. MHI was involved in the construction of the Dubai Metro, and it now provides operation and maintenance services through the Keolis MHI Rail Management & Operation partnership with Keolis. In 2012 MHI completed the peoplemover at Terminal 3 at the current Dubai International Airport, and it provides O&M services through MHI-MESC. L&T will be responsible for the design, procurement, testing and construction of the remaining systems for the new peoplemover, including guideways, DC traction substations, power distribution, signalling and telecoms, onboard communication, platform screen doors and depot equipment. The project involves ‘challenging execution milestones, advanced technologies and multiple system interfaces’, Ramkumar S, Executive Vice-President & Head of Transportation Infrastructure at L&T, said on August 20, adding that it ‘exemplifies the scale and complexity of integrated APM Rail Systems that L&T is uniquely positioned to deliver’. Opening date Completion is scheduled for December 2031, ahead of the planned opening of the airport in 2032. Dubai’s government aims to establish the airport as one of the world’s largest aviation hubs, handling 260 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of freight per year and with plans for further expansion. Subscribe to gain access to all news Already have a subscription? Log in. Choose your subscription Considering a corporate subscription? Contact us to find out more.