Dubai  inaugurated its metro network in a bid to cut dependency on cars and ease congestion, becoming the first city in the oil-rich Gulf to introduce rail as a commuting option.

The first train rolled out of the Mall of the Emirates station carrying dignitary passengers led by the emirate's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

"This is a dream coming true," said Sheikh Mohammed as he sat on the train travelling along the Red Line -- the first of two metro lines to open. A Green Line is scheduled to enter service in mid-2010.

The train travelled through empty stations, which will open to commuters only by Thursday morning. Sporadic fireworks went off as the train paced along the elevated track.

"To me, the metro is something special, like the first (Dubai national carrier) Emirates plane that flew and the first container-ship that arrived at (Dubai's) Sheikh Rashid port," Sheikh Mohammed told a group of journalists on Tuesday.

"This is just another of Dubai's achievements to celebrate," said Mattar al-Tayer, the head of the Roads and Transport Authority in the opening ceremony. The city state has more than one million vehicles, with cars and buses accounting for 88 percent -- almost one car for every two inhabitants of a population estimated between 1.6 million and some two million, mostly foreigners.

"We want less people using their cars," Sheikh Mohammed said.

But it remains to be seen whether motorists will be lured to leave their cars at home and hop onto the fancy air-conditioned blue trains, whose stations and connecting walkways are also temperature-controlled.

Petrol is subsidised in Dubai, as in the rest of the seven-member United Arab Emirates, while car loans were until recently easy to obtain, making the option of public transport less attractive.

And blazing sunshine and stifling humidity during a large part of the year in the southern Gulf desert country could make walking to and from stations uncomfortable.

But low-paid expatriate workers who are mostly South Asian and rely heavily on public buses will now have a faster alternative.

The RTA says metro fares will be affordable for everyone. A trip from one end of the 52-kilometre (32-mile) Red Line to the other will cost 5.80 dirhams (1.50 dollars).

Those who prefer not to ride on crowded carriages have the option of sitting on the leather seats of a "gold class" coach -- an unusual treat in a metro network -- at twice the price of standard tickets.

RTA says it made every effort to meet the deadline of the symbolic opening date of 09/09/09 for the Red Line since construction began in 2005, but only nine of its 29 stations have been opened on time.

Construction work remains visible at many of the incomplete stations of the mostly-elevated railroad that are set to open by February 2010, according to RTA.

It said on Monday that 90 percent of the work has been completed on the unfinished stations, pointing out that some were built to serve new neighbourhoods which have yet to be completely developed.

The global financial crisis has hit the construction sector in Dubai, delaying many projects due to the credit crunch. Plans for a further two metro lines have been put on hold as many new proposed development zones may not be built up for the foreseeable future.

The cost of building the Dubai Metro, which is being constructed by a consortium led by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has nearly doubled to 7.6 billion dollars, RTA said.

The metro is operated and maintained by UK support services firm Serco.