Dubai Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has invited contractors to submit bids for a contract to upgrade four Dubai Metro stations.

The design and build contract covers the Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall, Damac, UAE Exchange and Dubai Internet City stations. The works involve improving access to the stations and increasing their capacity.

The Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall station requires the most work, with an upgrade to the platform and concourse areas to increase the number of escalators and fare gates, additional retail space next to the station and a new double-decked pedestrian bridge connecting to Dubai Mall.

The pedestrian bridge will replace the existing 820 metre-long pedestrian link that local developer Emaar built in 2012. The local DBB Contracting was the contractor.

Traffic at the Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall station peaks at New Year’s Eve when nearly 1 million passengers use the metro network.

There were 200.075m rides on Dubai Metro in 2017, giving about 548,000 trips each day. The network is the most popular form of public transport in the emirate accounting for 36 per cent of total trips, ahead of taxis, which account for 32 per cent of trips.

Overall public transport ridership in the emirate reached 1.51 million a day in 2017, giving a total of 551.7 trips.

RTA is also adding new lines to the metro network. Construction is ongoing for a 15 kilometre extension to the Red line. The contractor for the AED10.6bn ($2.9bn) Route 2020 link is a consortium of Spain’s Acciona, Turkey’s Gulermak and France’s Alstom.

RTA has also invited consultants to submit bids by 31 July for a contract to undertake the feasibility study, concept and preliminary design, tender preparation and award, and design review and contract administration for the extensions of the Dubai Metro Green and Red lines.

The Green Line extension will start from its terminus at Creek station in the Jadaf area, cross to the Dubai Creek Harbour development, and go on to Ras al-Khor, International City and Dubai Silicon Oasis, before ending at Academic City. The extension line will have 11 stations.

The Red line extension will link its terminus in Rashidiya to Mirdif City Centre. It will extend over 3.5km and have one station.

The Green and Red line extensions are two of the future lines that RTA is considering. In December 2016, the authority awarded UK-based Atkins a consultancy contract to update and modify proposed future metro lines and other public transport networks such as the tram.

The transport agency’s previous 2030 masterplan included a 421km-long railway network with 197 stations. The existing lines extend 74.6km.