Etihad Rail Awards Civil and Track Works Contracts
Etihad Rail, which operates the national railway in the United Arab Emirates, has approved the award agreement for civil and track works for packages B and C of Stage 2 of the UAE national freight and passenger railway network.
Etihad Rail Stage 2
The civil and track works for packages B and C went to China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd and Ghantoot Transport & General Contracting Company. The signing parties were Shadi Malak, Etihad Rail CEO, and Wang Jinsong, Authorised Representative of China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd, and Ali Mohamed Sadiq Albloushi, Chairman of Ghantoot Transport & General Contracting. His Highness Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan attended the signing ceremony.
The reason why Packages B and C are key is that they connect Khalifa Port, Khalifa Industrial City and Jebel Ali Port. These 310km will form the backbone of the UAE national rail network, providing better intermodal connections and rail links to manufacturing sites and urban locations.
The Etihad Rail Project
The Etihad Rail project is to be delivered in stages. Stage 1 is a 264km route between Shah and Habshan and is fully operational.
Stage 2 is to connect the railway to Mussafah, the Khalifa and Jebel Ali ports, and to the borders with Saudi Arabia and Oman. Packages B and C will connect Abu Dhabi and Dubai. In total, Stage 2 will run for 605km from Ghuweifat on the border to Saudi Arabia in the west to the Port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman. Of these 605km, Package B measures 216km and Package C measures 94km.
H.H. Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said:
“The UAE National Railway is one of the most important economic 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.”
In total, the Etihad Rail project will run for 1200km, connecting all of the emirates and forming a central component of the GCC railway network. The goal is for this rail network to act as a catalyst for economic growth and sustained social development.
Etihad Rail Stage 2 Package A
Etihad Rail has already awarded Package A of Stage 2 to a consortium consisting of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation and South Korea’s SK Engineering and Construction.
