Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has completed the second phase of a ventilation and air conditioning system overhaul across stations on the Red and Green Lines of the Dubai Metro.
The Rail Agency carried out the work as part of RTA’s Strategic Plan 2024–2030, which covers passenger comfort, customer happiness, operational efficiency, and asset sustainability.
The initiative aligns with RTA’s vision to become the Global Leader in Seamless and Sustainable Mobility, the Dubai Media Office said in a statement.
Dubai Metro enhances cooling systems
The project represents another milestone in the partnership between RTA and Keolis-MHI to enhance service quality and prepare infrastructure for Dubai’s summer season.
The second phase involved overhauling 876 ventilation and air conditioning assets across 14 stations and two car parks along the Red Line. Train operations continued without disruption during the work.
This phase follows the completion of Phase 1, which covered 261 assets across 13 stations.
The work included replacing and refurbishing air handling units (AHUs), fan coil units (FCUs), chilled water pumps, extract fans, smoke extract fans, and pressurisation units.
Teams also carried out bearing and cooling coil replacement, deep cleaning, and dynamic balancing to restore equipment to original design performance.
Dubai’s summer season creates demanding conditions for public transport systems. Trains arrive every few minutes, doors open every 2–4 minutes, and hot air enters station environments continuously.
The ventilation and cooling systems must operate at capacity to maintain internal temperatures between 24°C and 25°C across the network, ensuring passenger comfort regardless of external conditions.
The 10-month programme took place outside peak hours and during night shifts to maintain smooth station operations and passenger experience throughout the execution period.
Preparations have begun for Phase 3, which will target the remaining 25 per cent of public-area FCUs and back-of-house and critical room AHUs across Red Line stations. Experimental and verification works for this phase began in mid-July 2025.
RTA is advancing its Ventilation and Air Conditioning (VAC) Enhancement Project to explore energy optimisation opportunities and transition toward variable flow technology.
The project results from coordination between RTA’s Rail Agency and Keolis-MHI, which operates and maintains the Dubai Metro and operates the Dubai Tram. The collaboration demonstrates the partnership’s commitment to delivering service standards across the Dubai Metro network.
