Transport news: GGICO Metro Station has a new name
For the Dubai Metro, As DJ Khaled likes to say…
Another one. Another metro station is getting a brand new name, and this time it’s the GGICO Metro Station, now named the Al Garhoud Station. Several metro stations have seen some renaming business recently, and what was previously GGICO is the latest one to add to that.
The announcement of the change coming for GGICO was made by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on Friday, with the change taking effect on a later date.
The name GGICO was given after the company GGICO (Gulf General Investment Company), a Dubai Financial Market-listed public shareholding company established in 1973, which is not an uncommon practice, as we have seen with stations like Insurance Market, Equiti and most recently, Al Fardan Exchange.
The station will now be named after its location, the area of Al Garhoud. Stations named after areas or popular landmarks they connect are the most common, with Financial Centre, Burj Khalifa, Burjuman, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Internet City, Al Nahda and DIP to name a few. The newest area-based name comes into affect starting today, April 14.
All this renaming…
Juts before this one, earlier in March, the RTA renamed Al Khail Metro Station to Al Fardan Exchange Metro Station. That was the first of the second time in a month that names of stations have been changed. Recently, Mashreq had also been renamed InsuranceMarket back in September of 2024.
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According to the RTA, work on revamping and updating these changes internally and externally will continue in the coming months, including changing the name boards and other signage in and around Dubai Metro stations.
“From April to the end of June 2025, the RTA will be updating and renaming the station names on the external as well as the indoor directional signages for all Metro Stations. The new name will also be updated on the digital smart systems and the RTA’s public transport apps, along with the onboard audio announcements before and at the time of arriving at the station,” the RTA has said.
RTA launched the Dubai Metro stations naming rights initiative in 2009 and was the first of its kind worldwide. Name changes are fairly frequent along the metro line, and are normally named based on their location, or the sponsor that has named them.
According to Gulf Business, the naming rights for a station could cost up to Dhs40 million for a 10-year period, depending on the location.
Images: Supplied
