Abu Dhabi: The first section of the UAE railway, a freight line that will enable granulated sulphur to be transported from Habshan to Ruwais for export, will be opened in early 2013, the chief executive officer of Union Railway Richard Bowker said on Tuesday.
"The second part of the line from Shah to Habshan will follow at the end of 2014," Bowker told delegates at a MEED conference in Abu Dhabi.
"The pre-qualification for the main EPC [engineering, procurement and construction] package for the entire Shah to Ruwais route comprising civil, earthworks, structures, permanent way and systems has begun. We are now in the middle of it and this will be completed over the next few weeks. After the end of the pre-qualification round, we will create a short list and send a tender out," Bowker said.
"We will be able to announce in the early part of next year who has got various packages," said Bowker, adding that there were more than five packages to be awarded.
He said the Union Railway had completed geotechnical, topographic, aerial and ground surveys for the Shah to Ruwais route.
The freight line will support Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (Adnoc) ongoing investment programme in the Shah and Habshan oil and gas fields and contribute to the development of the oil, natural gas and petrochemical industries in the country. Additionally, it will help accelerate the development of the Western Region in line with Abu Dhabi Vision 2030.
A countrywide railway network in the UAE will be rolled out over the next seven to eight years, Bowker has previously said. It's estimated that the proposed countrywide rail network will cost between Dh25 billion and Dh30 billion.
Network
The Union Railway will extend up to 1,500km across all seven emirates. The railway will connect the UAE to Saudi Arabia via Ghhwaifat city in the west and Oman via Al Ain in the east.
Connecting the Shah and Habshan fields with Ruwais will add nearly 300km to the originally planned 1,100km national railway network. The freight transportation target for Union Railway in the first phase of operations is 30 million metric tonnes.
The UAE railway network will be built to international standards.
The trains are expected to run at speeds of between 80km/h and 120km/h for freight transport and between 160km/h and 200km/h for passenger service. The Union Railway was established in 2009 under Federal Law Number 2.
