(Corrections  - In the 6th paragraph, length of Package D corrected from 132 to 145 kilometres; In the 7th paragraph, number of tunnels corrected from 15 to 9, and their total length corrected from 16 to 6.9 km; number of bridges from 35 to 54; underpasses [animal crossings] from 32 to 20)  

China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) has completed the Middle East's longest railway tunnel project in the UAE. 

In a Chinese language press statement posted on its website, CCECC said it completed the 1.8-kilometre long T1 Tunnel, which forms part of second stage of Etihad Railway, the UAE's national railway network on 19 July. T1 is part of Package D of Stage Two of the national railway project. 

The statement said the tunnel, located in the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, is longest tunnel of the UAE national railway and the longest high-speed heavy-duty railway tunnel in the Middle East. 

Majority of the alignment of Package D passes through the Hajar Mountains. 

The 605-kilometre Stage Two of Etihad Railway is divided into four packages - A, B, C & D - and extends from Al Ghuweifat on the UAE’s border with Saudi Arabia to Fujairah in the eastern coast. 

In December 2019, Etihad Rail had announced the award of a 4.6 billion UAE dirham contract for the145-kilometre Package D, which will link the ports of Fujairah and Khorfakkan to the railway network at the Dubai-Sharjah border, to a joint venture of CRCC and Abu Dhabi's National Projects and Construction (NPC).  

Package D includes the construction of 9 tunnels through the Hajar Mountains with a total length of 6.9 kilometres, in addition to the construction of 54 bridges and 20 underpasses. 

On Wednesday, Etihad Rail tweeted that on-ground teams have laid and delivered 4km of track for two consecutive days across Dubai. The contract is being executed by a joint venture of China Railway Construction Corporation and Ghantoot Transport & General Contracting Company. 

SDC Deal Number: 4089281158

(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon) 

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com

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