A NORTH-EAST industrial shutter specialist has won contracts worth more than £1m to work on what is being hailed as the most advanced urban rail system in the world.

Hart Door Systems is providing industrial roller shutters for the creation of the Dubai Metro, which will open later this year and will be the world’s longest automated rail service.

On top of deals already in place on the project, the Newcastle company recently won a £350,000 contract to work on one of the depots, which will provide protection when the driverless trains are in operation.

Hart Door Systems, which is based in Westerhope but works across the globe, now has deals in place on the Dubai Metro worth more than £1m, which are the biggest the company has ever worked on.

The latest contract was secured through the Al-Futtaim Group, itself a nominated supplier to the contract let by a consortium of four companies headed by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is leading the project to build the first two lines of the rapid transit system.

Alan Richardson, contract manager for Hart and in charge of exports, said the latest Dubai Metro contract confirms Hart’s engineering excellence and ability to compete on a world-wide basis.

“We have global experience, with Hart installations now in 14 countries outside the UK.

However, the Dubai contracts are by far the largest we have had and they bear testament to two key factors – our engineering quality and the establishment of a good team in the Gulf area,” he said.

“Local knowledge and our investment in time making crucial presentations have been essential in building up confidence in our abilities.”