Etihad Rail To Begin First Phase Operations In “Near Future” – Official

The first phase of the UAE-wide railway network, Etihad Rail, is set to begin operations very soon, a senior official has confirmed.

The project’s first phase includes a 266-kilometre long rail network that will run from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais in the UAE’s Western Region, carrying sulphur granules from ADNOC factories to be exported from the Ruwais port.

It will be operational in the “near future” and will be followed by the completion of two other phases by the end of 2018, said Nazim Assad bin Taher, director, Roads and Transport Department at National Transport Authority, reported UAE’s official news agency WAM.

His remarks were made on the sidelines of a workshop that addressed the drafting of a federal law to regulate the UAE’s railway sector.

“Preparing the federal law is in implementation of a relevant resolution by the Ministerial Council For Services,” he said.

The UAE’s Dhs40 billion ($10.8 billion) Etihad Rail project, stretching 1,200 kilometres, will handle both freight and passenger services and will link the country to Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Officials confirmed earlier this year that testing and commissioning stage for the first phase had already started. It is expected to begin operations before year-end.

Stage two of the project will link the Saudi Arabian border to Dubai and extend to Al Ain, while the final stage will include a line running from the northern emirates to the industrial areas of the country.

Etihad Rail is the first national freight and passenger railway network connecting all the seven emirates of UAE.

The wider 2,177-km-long GCC Rail project will connect all the six Gulf Arab states and has a completion date of 2018. Each of the GCC states will work on an individual link before the common network is connected.