Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE’s National Rail Network, announced on Tuesday that it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Western Bainoona Group to provide freight services from Fujairah to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. 

The operator said in a statement that the partnership, one of the largest under Stage Two of the national railway project, involves the transportation of 4.5 million tonnes of aggregates annually on 643 trains from the Group’s facilities in Fujairah to logistics hubs in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD) and Dubai Industrial City. 

Etihad Rail said it is allocating 70 wagons for each train, with an approximate capacity of 7,000 tonnes per trip.  

The partnership will reduce road traffic by 120,000 truck trips annually, the statement said. 

The statement said Etihad Rail is constructing facilities at ICAD and Dubai Industrial City to provide advanced logistical infrastructure in Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. 

In April, Etihad Railway had signed a commercial agreement with Ras Al Khaimah-based Stevin Rock, one of the largest quarrying companies in the world, to transport construction materials by rail from Ras Al Khaimah to Abu Dhabi. 

Under the agreement, an estimated 3.5 million tonnes of construction material will be carried annually from Stevin Rock’s Al Ghail quarry in Ras Al Khaimah to Abu Dhabi, through 500 annual train trips. Each train will haul 70 wagons representing a total carrying capacity of 7,000 tonnes per journey. 

The agreement will result in an annual reduction of 100,000 truck trips, an Etihad Railway statement had said. 

(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com

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