Etihad Rail brings the romance of train travel to the UAE
Passenger trains will revolutionise UAE travel, making it cheaper, faster and convenient
Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem From a Railway Carriage vividly captures the breathless excitement of a train journey. The sights and sounds are of Britain, yet it’s easy to relate. Variations of the imagery occur around the world. Soon, the UAE will have its version of the train journey.
The landscape is drastically different, but the Etihad Rail ride promises to be exhilarating when passenger trains zip across the 900km network in the country. Trains will steam through the Al Maha Forest in Abu Dhabi and whistle past the sand dunes of Dubai before flying over the bridges of Sharjah and barrelling through the tunnels of the Hajar mountains to reach Fujairah on the west coast.
■ The freight and passenger railway network, with a standard track gauge of 1,435mm, will make travel between emirates faster, greener and more convenient.
■ The 1,200km track is expected to carry over 60 million tonnes of freight and 36.5 million passengers by 2030.
■ The first stage, a 264km line connecting gas fields in Shah and Habshan to the Ruwais port, was finished in 2016. The construction of the 605km second stage, started in 2020, is ready to move freight. The track transports goods from Al Faya to the rest of the emirates. The 45km Sharjah line is the last part of the project.
Why train journeys are different
There’s a romance to rail journeys. Air travel can’t replicate that. The slower pace and fast-changing vistas make for a unique experience. The sceneries, the stations, the people and the food combine to offer an enchanting ride. Strangers become friends onboard, while stations become venues for warm greetings and painful farewells.
Train journeys are not new to the UAE. The Dubai Metro has been moving people since 2009, but cross-country travel is incomparable. The experience on trains that streak across the UAE, from Ghuweifat on the Saudi border in the west to Fujairah in the east, will be on a different plane.
With diesel-powered locomotives running at 200kmph, the trip takes only 105 minutes. That eliminates the stress and time wasted in the highway gridlocks during peak hours. The Abu Dhabi-Dubai trip is shorter, and the 57-minute ride may persuade people to ditch their cars.
That is why Etihad Rail says it will transport around 14,000 passengers daily on the network that connects 11 cities and regions: from Al Sila in the western region of Abu Dhabi to Fujairah in the east, passing through Al Ruwais, Al Mirfa, Dubai, Al Dhaid and Sharjah.
No date has been announced for passenger services, which will revolutionise travel in the UAE. The first trip is expected to leave Abu Dhabi for Al Dhannah in Al Dhafrah region, about 250km west of the capital city.
Work on railway stations is underway, and the first is likely to be in Sakamkam at the heart of Fujairah city, and the University City station in Sharjah will cater to students and the faculty. The terminal at the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD) will cover more than 2.7 million square feet.
The rail link to UAE ports
Etihad Rail, founded in 2009, has been running trains since 2016. Freight services, launched with a 264km line linking the gas fields in Shah and Habshan to the Ruwais port in Abu Dhabi, were expanded across the country last year. The rail connects major ports such as Khalifa Port, Jebel Ali Port, Al Ghayel Dry Port and Fujairah Port.
Chugging at 120kmph, the freight trains have kept a lot of heavy trucks off the roads. Some reports say a train carries the load of 300 trucks, and that’s a shot in the arm for green initiatives.
Developed at Dh40 billion ($11 billion), the network will cover 1,200km on completion, linking Saudi Arabia and Oman. That will mean cross-border travel on rails, much like Europe.
There won’t be snowcapped mountains and green valleys but the vast expanse of the desert beckons with its undulating sands and majestic dunes. It’s a sight to behold.
R.L. Stevenson would have written:
■ The $3 billion network will help boost cross-border trade by connecting commercial ports in Oman and UAE.
■ Passenger trains will reduce travel time from Sohar to Abu Dhabi to 1 hour 40 minutes and from Sohar to Al Ain to 47 minutes.
■ The 1,250km North Passenger Line from Riyadh heads northwest towards Al Haditha near the Jordanian border. The 1,550km freight line runs from the Northern Province to the Eastern Province.
■ The 1,775km East Train Network extends to Riyadh from King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam and Dammam city.
■ Haramain High Speed Rail links Makkah to Madinah and trains travelling at 300kmph making it one of the world’s 10 fastest trains.