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Serco Middle East celebrates partnership with Dubai?s RTA

The company tapped to provide operational and maintenance services to Dubai Metro since 2009. (Image source: Serco)

Serco Middle East, support services provider to public sector entities, has celebrated its decade-old partnership with Dubai?s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA)

The collaboration between RTA and Serco began after the latter was tapped 10 years ago to operate and maintain (O&M) the Dubai Metro, which was launched on 9 September 2009.

Serco provides full operations, maintenance and integrated facilities management for the automated Dubai Metro rail network, which consists of 75 km of track, 47 stations, 79 trains and the operations control centres (Rashidiya, Qusais and Jebal Ali).

Alex Rentier, managing director of Serco Transport in the UAE, said, ?As we celebrate our decade-old ties built on world-class services, we continue to be RTA?s partner of choice. This is so because our ethos is built on trust, innovation, and the quality of service we provide. We look forward to a more fruitful collaboration with the Authority.?

?Under our partnership, Serco?s core responsibility is to ensure safe operation and maintenance services of all assets of the Metro system, in addition to offering high standards of service to our passengers and communities we serve,? Rentier said.

Rentier added, ?The O&M services we provide to RTA are extremely diverse, covering everything from cleaning of stations and other facilities like management of ticket office and operation of the control centre to complex engineering activities. These include train overhaul when it is lifted from its bogie and stripped down, in addition to unit line replacement when a train is serviced, re-built, tested, and placed back into service.?

In December 2013, Serco secured an extension to the original five-year concession until 2019 with an option to 2021 to cover Expo 2020; an option which has since been awarded to Serco.

As of 2019, between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Serco Middle East has more than 1,700 employees in the transport sector alone, making it an employer of choice when it comes to rail management.

Major achievements include

? Trained the first UAE female train driver in the region.

? Received the International Safety Award from the British Safety Council in 2014 in recognition of its health and safety commitment in the Middle East.

? Won the ?Best Company Project in the field of Nationalisation? in the Middle East in 2016 at the 33rd Council of Ministers of Labor for Gulf Arab States for its ongoing efforts to attract and retain UAE nationals.

? Awarded Energy and Green Economy Award in 2016.

? Awarded the Medal of Excellence and the Lion?s Award from the U.K. City and Guilds.

? Awarded the TISSE 2012 5-Star award for customer service, the first company in the region to receive the recognition.