Khaleej Times journalists took a train ride to the heart of the Expo 2020 Dubai site from the Jebel Ali metro station on Friday morning.

The Dubai Metro Expo 2020 Station officially opened today for the general public as the region’s first World Expo began its six-month run from October 1.

Although the usual working hours of the Dubai Metro are from 10am on Fridays, the trains now start at 8am.

The KT team parked their cars at the Jebel Ali station, which offers a huge underground area free of cost for parking.

The anticipation has reached a fever pitch as people head to the mega event, which is dubbed as a voyage of hope, invention and collaboration with several architectural marvels.

Today also marked the first full day of the Expo 2020, after the inauguration of the site that held its star-studded opening ceremony on Thursday evening.

In fact, some government officials also headed to the Expo 2020 site, taking the metro to attend the gala opening ceremony.

The Jebel Station runs from the Al Rashidiya station on the Red Line to Expo 2020 station. The fare price is AED 7.5 from this station.

Metro users can top up their NOL Cards if they wish to avoid standing in the queues.

The metro train passes through five stations before finally reaching the Expo 2020 site.

The Expo 2020 station and the Dubai Investments Park station opened on the new Route 2020 of the Metro Red Line as recently as the month of June.

We caught up with two people onboard Route 2020.

Metro passenger and German visitor Kai Kirn, who has come here primarily to work during the Expo 2020 said, “I am a technician at the German pavilion that’s why I am travelling so early. I just came to Dubai two weeks ago."

"Expo has a lot of buzz around it, so clearly, people are anticipating a lot of things. I am looking forward to having a really nice time here. Also, I hope it proves to be a great learning experience for me.”

Another early metro user, Namibian national, Titus Shigwedha said, “I am one of the managers for a food brand that we are showcasing there. We will be part of the Terra sustainability project. I am super excited to be a part of Dubai Expo. We are looking forward to bringing new style cuisine to Dubai.”

The Expo 2020 station that can accommodate up to 29,000 passengers per hour during the peak hours is flanked on the Eastern side by the Expo site and Expo COEX and on the Western side by the mall and the Urban complex.

For all lines, from Sunday to Wednesday, Dubai Metro stations will now open at 5am until 1.15am and until 2.15am on Thursday evenings.

 
 

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