Business & Finance Club - DUBAI : Dubai developer Nakheel has appointed UK-based Serco, a leading services company, to operate and maintain the 5.5 km long driverless transit system Palm Jumeirah Monorail.

Nakheel picked Serco, presently incharge of the operation and maintenance of the Dubai Metro, for the Palm Monorail job after cancelling the contract with a Singaporean rail company SMRT last month.

Since 1997 Serco has been operating the Docklands Light Railway in London.

The Monorail, built at cost of Dh1.4 billion ($380 million), runs from The Gateway Station on the Dubai mainland to the Atlantis Station on the Crescent.

The driverless transit system, which runs along the “trunk” of the palm tree-shaped island, opened in May last year.