Updated 3 min read

Dubai Metro Blue Line

The Dubai Metro Blue Line opens on 9 September 2029, adding 30 km of track and 14 stations to a network of 66 metro and tram stations. RTA puts the cost at AED 18 billion and runs the line from the Creek area out to Mirdif and Academic City, meeting the Green Line at Creek and the Red Line at Centrepoint. Construction stood at 12 per cent in December 2025, with RTA targeting 30 per cent by the end of 2026.

Where the Dubai Metro Blue Line runs

Two arms make up the Blue Line rather than one straight run. The first begins at Creek on the Green Line, passes Dubai Creek Harbour and Dubai Festival City, crosses Ras Al Khor and reaches International City. The second drops south from Centrepoint, the northern terminus of the Red Line, through Mirdif and Al Warqa to International City 1, where the two arms meet.

Stops named in RTA's announcements include Dubai Creek Harbour, Dubai Festival City, Ras Al Khor, International City 1, 2 and 3, Academic City, Mirdif and Al Warqa. Nine of the 14 stations are elevated and five sit underground, and RTA lists a depot at Al Ruwayyah 3 to stable the trains.

The Creek interchange is the one that matters most to anyone already riding. It brings Dubai Festival City and International City within a single change of the Green Line, and Centrepoint does the same job at the Red Line end, so a trip from Deira to the eastern suburbs loses its bus leg. The current network map shows how far apart those two points sit today.

Where the Dubai Metro Blue Line runs

Blue Line stations and the three interchanges

Fourteen stations open with the line and three of them are interchanges: Creek onto the Green Line, Centrepoint onto the Red Line, and International City 1, where the Blue Line meets itself.

RTA has not published one official index of all 14 names the way it lists the stations open today, so the names above are the ones that appear in the project announcements. Expect a few to change before 2029. Sponsorship renames have hit more than a dozen stations since 2009, among them Al Karama to ADCB and Jebel Ali to Life Pharmacy.

InterchangeLine it meetsWhat it connects
CreekGreen LineDeira and Bur Dubai to Dubai Creek Harbour and Festival City
CentrepointRed LineThe airport corridor and Deira to Mirdif and Al Warqa
International City 1Blue LineThe point where the two Blue Line arms join

Interchanges named in RTA's Blue Line announcements. The line is due to open on 9 September 2029.

What a Dubai Metro Blue Line trip is likely to cost

Fares on the Blue Line will follow the same zone table as the rest of the network. One zone costs AED 3 on a Silver or Blue card, two adjacent zones AED 5, and more than two zones AED 7.50. Gold Class doubles each of those to AED 6, AED 10 and AED 15.

The open question is zoning. Mirdif, Al Warqa and Ras Al Khor sit in Zone 4 on the current RTA map, an area buses serve on their own today, while Creek is in Zone 6 and Centrepoint in Zone 5. Read straight off that map, a run from Mirdif into Bur Dubai touches three zones and costs AED 7.50. RTA has not said if the zone boundaries get redrawn when the line opens, so treat that as our reading of the published map rather than a quoted fare.

Transfer rules stay as they are. Several legs count as one journey when each change happens within 30 minutes of check out, with no more than 3 transfers and 180 minutes end to end. The fare calculator prices any pair of stations open today on exactly those rules.

What a Dubai Metro Blue Line trip is likely to cost

Blue Line progress, cost and dates

AED 18 billion covers the civil works, the 14 stations and the depot. The Dubai Media Office put construction at 10 per cent in November 2025 and Gulf News reported 12 per cent in December 2025, with 30 per cent the target for the end of 2026. A figure of 20 per cent for May 2026 circulates on other sites and we have not found it in an RTA or Media Office release, so it stays out of the table.

The opening date has not moved. RTA has repeated 9 September 2029 in every update we have logged, twenty years to the day after the first Red Line trains ran in 2009.

RTA projects 320,000 riders a day on the Blue Line by 2040. For scale, the whole metro carried 294.7 million riders in 2025, which averages a little over 800,000 a day across the two lines now open.

DateMilestoneReported by
November 202510 per cent of construction completeDubai Media Office
December 202512 per cent completeGulf News
End of 202630 per cent targetedRTA
9 September 2029Line opensRTA

RTA publishes no monthly progress table; these are the dated statements we can point at.

What the Blue Line changes for riders

International City, Mirdif and Al Warqa gain the most. All three depend on feeder buses into the metro today, so a rider from International City to Business Bay changes mode once and often twice. A train replaces that first leg, and the trip becomes one tap in and one tap out.

Dubai Creek Harbour, Dubai Festival City and Academic City get rail for the first time. Academic City in particular moves a student population that travels at fixed hours off the road network, which is the sort of demand a metro line handles well.

There is a second effect on the lines already open. BurJuman took 17.8 million riders in 2025 and Union 13.6 million, the two busiest stations on the network. A third line arriving at Creek and Centrepoint gives some of those riders another way across the city rather than funnelling them through the same two interchanges.

What the Blue Line changes for riders

What is still unconfirmed about the Blue Line

No fare, zone or timetable has been published for the Blue Line, because the line is three years from opening. The cost and the opening date are RTA's own figures. The progress percentages come from dated Media Office and press reports, which is why each one carries a name and a month above. Any page quoting Blue Line journey times to the minute is guessing.

Dates on projects this size do move. The Red Line opened on schedule in 2009, so the 9 September target has a precedent behind it, though three years leaves room for change. This page gets updated when RTA publishes a new number, and press figures stay labelled as press figures.

Frequently asked questions

When does the Dubai Metro Blue Line open?

RTA has set 9 September 2029, the twentieth anniversary of the day the Red Line opened. The date has been repeated in every project update so far.

How many stations will the Blue Line have?

Fourteen across 30 km, nine of them elevated and five underground. Three are interchanges: Creek, Centrepoint and International City 1.

Where does the Dubai Metro Blue Line go?

From Creek on the Green Line past Dubai Creek Harbour, Dubai Festival City and Ras Al Khor to International City, and from Centrepoint on the Red Line through Mirdif and Al Warqa to International City 1. Academic City also sits on the route.

How much will a Blue Line fare cost?

RTA has not published Blue Line fares. The zone table it uses everywhere else charges AED 3 within one zone, AED 5 across two and AED 7.50 beyond that on a Silver card, and there is no sign of a separate table for the new line.

How far along is Blue Line construction?

Gulf News reported 12 per cent complete in December 2025, after the Dubai Media Office gave 10 per cent in November 2025. RTA is targeting 30 per cent by the end of 2026.

Will the Blue Line serve Dubai Airport?

No. Terminals 1 and 3 keep their Red Line stations, and the Blue Line reaches that corridor by interchanging with the Red Line at Centrepoint.

Is the Blue Line the same project as the Gold Line?

No. They are separate lines with separate budgets. The Gold Line was approved in April 2026, runs 42 km underground on the other side of the city and is due in 2032.

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