UAE Network: Etihad Rail to expand to Dubai, Fujairah

Etihad Rail on Tuesday (June 25) approved Dh4.4 billion Stage Two plan to connect all emirates with a 1,200km network.

Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of Etihad Rail, chaired an Etihad Rail board meeting on Tuesday and approved the plan to connect Abu Dhabi with Dubai and other emirates.

The developer and operator of the UAE rail network launched Package B and C as part of the second stage to connect Khalifa Port, Khalifa Industrial City (Kizad) and Jebel Ali Port.

The project includes links to strategic ports and industrial areas nationwide, covering a distance of 310km. The two packages launched on Tuesday are part of a 650km line from Ghuweifat to the Port of Fujairah on the eastern coast.

Works on the 650km line will focus on the design and construction of rail infrastructure, including earth works, bridges, tunnels, animal-crossings and track-laying, connecting Package B with Package A, and Package C with Package B. The total value of the works is Dh4.4 billion.

Ghantoot Transport and General Contracting Company and the China Railway Construction Corporation secured the two contracts for civil and track works on the two packages.

Shadi Malak, chief executive officer, Etihad Rail; Ali Mohamed Sadiq Albloushi, chairman of Ghantoot Transport and General Contracting; Wang Jinsong, Authorised Representative of China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd., signed the deals in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Sheikh Theyab stressed the importance of the UAE national railway network, which is recognised as one of the most important economic and development projects in the UAE.

"Etihad Rail will sustain the growth of our transport industry and freight carriage sector throughout the UAE, as railway systems are one of the most important means of transport on which countries depend to achieve their economic and social objectives," he said.

He said that the launch of packages B and C as part of the second stage of this project to connect all of the emirates is a milestone in the future prospects of the UAE.

Etihad Rail has previously awarded Package A to a consortium of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation and South Korea's SK Engineering and Construction. When complete, the 1,200Km Etihad Rail project will link the UAE's principal centres of industry, manufacturing, production, population, and import/export points, forming an integral part of the GCC-wide railway network.