Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has secured an order worth up to ₹5,000 crore to design and build the Automated People Mover (APM) system for Phase 1 of Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, the company announced on Thursday, 20 August. The contract was won in a consortium with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), with L&T holding responsibility for the turnkey delivery of the fully integrated system.

Scope of the Contract

Under the design-and-build contract, L&T's transportation infrastructure business will handle design, procurement, delivery, and integration of key APM infrastructure components. These include guideways, DC traction substations, power distribution, signalling and telecommunications, onboard communication systems, platform screen doors, and depot equipment. The scope also covers construction, supply, testing, commissioning, and operational readiness of the entire system.

An Automated People Mover is a driverless transit system used to ferry passengers between airport terminals and ancillary facilities — a critical piece of infrastructure for large, multi-terminal airports.

The Airport Behind the Project

The project is being developed by Dubai Aviation City Corporation and implemented through Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects, according to L&T. It forms a key component of the airport's long-term, multi-phase expansion programme.

Once fully built out, Al Maktoum International Airport is expected to become the world's largest airport, with a planned capacity of 260 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of freight annually — figures that would dwarf current global aviation hubs.

What L&T Said

Ramkumar S, Executive Vice-President and Head of Transportation Infrastructure at L&T, said the project demonstrated the company's capabilities in executing integrated APM rail systems. He noted that the combination of MHI's APM systems expertise and L&T's integrated systems and engineering design experience would enable delivery with a strong focus on safety and quality.

Market Reaction

Shares of L&T responded positively to the announcement, trading 1.31% higher and hitting an intraday high of ₹4,083 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) by around 1 pm IST on Thursday. This order adds to a growing international order book for L&T's infrastructure division, reinforcing its position as a major player in cross-border transit engineering.

The win signals India's expanding footprint in Gulf infrastructure, where L&T has been a consistent contractor across multiple large-scale projects. With Al Maktoum's full build-out still years away, this Phase 1 contract could serve as a gateway to subsequent phases of one of the most ambitious airport projects in aviation history.