Al Fardan Exchange station (R35) carries the network’s freshest name – renamed from Al Khail in April 2025 – and serves the corridor between Barsha Heights (Tecom), The Greens and the Emirates Golf Club. Elevated on the Red Line, fare zone 2, one stop from Dubai Internet City and two from the Marina cluster.
Three names in sixteen years
Opened 2009 as Nakheel (for the developer, not a place), renamed Al Khail in the November 2020 wave, and Al Fardan Exchange since April 2025 under an RTA naming-rights deal announced that March. Every generation of map disagrees with the last, and the pre-2020 “Nakheel” still causes mix-ups with the old Nakheel Harbour & Tower down the line (today’s National Paints). If directions mention any of the three names on this stretch, they mean here.
Al Fardan Exchange carries the network’s freshest name, renamed from Al Khail in April 2025, and its full history reads like a naming-rights timeline: Nakheel at opening in 2009 – for the developer, not a place – then Al Khail in the November 2020 wave, and Al Fardan Exchange since April 2025 under a deal announced that March.
Barsha Heights and The Greens
The station’s daily constituency lives in the towers of Barsha Heights – the district everyone still calls Tecom – and the lower-rise Greens community across the interchange. Both are dense with mid-market hotels and serviced apartments; if you booked “Tecom” accommodation for the price, this is your station, with the Internet City campus one stop and MOE three stops away.
The golf connection
The Emirates Golf Club – home of the Majlis course and the Dubai Desert Classic – sits between this station and the coast. It is taxi-from-the-station territory (five minutes) rather than a walk, but this remains the closest metro access to the most famous fairways in the Gulf; tournament week runs shuttles from the area.
Local tips
- Hotel-booking decode: “Barsha Heights/Tecom” listings near this station are the value play for Marina-adjacent stays – two stops from the water at a fraction of the rate.
- The Greens’ cafes around the community lakes are the area’s quiet weekend brunch secret.
- Zone 2 hops: Internet City, MOE, the Marina and JLT are all AED 3 rides.
- Desert Classic week (January): expect golf traffic and event shuttles – and book area hotels far ahead.
Getting here and onward
Al Fardan Exchange is elevated on the Red Line, zone 2, one stop from Dubai Internet City and within a zone-2 AED 3 fare of MOE, the Marina and JLT. There is no tram or marine link; the golf club and the coast are taxi-from-the-rank.