People take the first metro ride after the official opening of the Gulf Emirate's first metro network in Dubai, Sept. 9, 2009. (Mosab Omar/Reuters)

Dubai’s shiny new train set

Dubai's technologically and aesthetically dazzling metro has already upset this rich Emirate’s rigid social hierarchy.

By Tom Hundley
Published: October 19, 2009 05:39 ET
Updated: October 19, 2009 09:36 ET

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — When his kingdom’s roads became so swollen with assorted Mercedes and Hummers that even short trips across town turned into slow motion marathons, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, the ruler (and unofficial CEO) of Dubai, decreed that a metro be built.

Three-and-a-half years and $7.6 billion later, Sheikh Mohammed, resplendent in royal blue robes and accompanied by the usual pomp and glitz, became the first passenger on the Arabian Peninsula’s first rapid rail transit system.

Built by a Japanese consortium and operated by a British contractor, the fully automated system is technologically and aesthetically dazzling. Its driverless, air-conditioned trains glide silently and serenely along elevated tracks through most of the city before dipping underground in the crowded center.

Only 10 of the inaugural line’s 29 gold-skinned stations were ready for the Sept. 9 grand opening — the rest are supposed to open next year — so it is too early to tell if Dubai’s shiny new train set can persuade the locals to leave their cars in the garage.

But one thing is clear: The metro has already upset the applecart of this rich Emirate’s rigid social hierarchy.

Dubai is a city that caters to the ostentatiously wealthy. Like any arriviste, it has a constant need to puff up its ego with outlandish superlatives — the world’s tallest building, the world’s most luxurious hotel, the world’s fanciest shopping mall. A man-made archipelago, shaped like a palm tree and loaded with luxury villas, is the signature symbol of Dubai’s devotion to showy opulence.

The metro is different. No velvet rope or electrified security gate to keep out the masses. And in the few weeks since it began running, the new ride has turned into something of social leveler: privileged Emiratis suddenly find themselves in the unfamiliar position of competing for rush-hour seats with their Filipina housemaids.

Dubai likes to think of itself as a cosmopolitan place. And it is true, many nationalities do coexist here, but they rarely mingle. More often, the different social strata view each other with scarcely veiled disdain.

At the top of the totem pole are the Emiratis. A minority in their own gilded city-state, they represent only 17 percent of the total population of 1.4 million. Cosseted from cradle to grave by a generous welfare state, they tend to exude a certain to-the-manor-born aloofness.

Next are the expats, mainly Brits, but with a smattering of other Europeans, Australians and North Americans. They, too, manage an air of entitlement.

Comments:

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Posted by david wayne osedach on October 19, 2009 08:31 ET

This has to be the most luxurious metro in the world. Hands down.

Posted by santih on October 19, 2009 17:42 ET

Good article except that your ranking of social classes is somewhat out of date. Maybe large expats' relocation packages put them immediately below locals in the past, but that's hardly the case anymore. The decline in relocation of top managers due to the decrease in growth rate of markets catered by Dubai along with the increase in investors and business men from places like India and Lebanon lead the latter to be ranked above Brits and North American expats both in terms of riches and influence.

Posted by isafakir on October 23, 2009 21:18 ET

from 1996 thru 2005 i attended international meetings and made business trips to dubai. by far the rudest and crudest and most ignorant were the dubai natives, followed close on by the Dubai Americans: selfish self centered completely devoid of human compassion. among the british there were occasional humanitarian souls. Commonwealth expats were generally decent. the poor are downtrodden exploited and abused. the worst abusers were americans and dubai natives but commonwealth and south asian entreprenuers did their utmost in matching americans in abuse. dubai is really hell on earth. btw i am a us-swiss dual citizen, and a us veteran. fulbright fellow, university researcher. PR professional. my mideast friends all arab. no american friends in the middle east.

Posted by scottieb on October 24, 2009 23:38 ET

It's nice to see an article about Dubai that isn't 'debt-prisons' and 'Asian slavery' shock-journalism. The myth of Dubai has started to crumble but apparently the government is doing something to improve the lives of all and not just the wealthy. Is this a new direction or simply an anomaly?

I wonder when we'll see an article weighing how the Sheikh has altered plans for Dubai in light of the negative publicity and recession. It'd also be nice to see a comparison of Abu Dhabi and Dubai in terms of their dealings with non-citizens.

As someone sent to Dubai to study its pluralism I saw a lot of poor Asians and Africans who reveled in the fact that they had found a place where (in theory) they could work hard and pull themselves up, all they wanted was a chance. And the women requested segregated sections on buses: it guaranteed them a seat, especially away from lonely, handsy men!

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