Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE’s national railway, awarded a contract to China’s CRRC Corporation Limited to triple the number of its wagons and expand its annual capacity eight-fold.
Under the deal, the Chinese state-owned company will manufacture, supply and commission 842 new wagons, Etihad Rail said yesterday.
This will bring the size of its fleet to more than 1,000 units and boost its annual transport capacity to 59 million tonnes.
“Etihad Rail is building a sustainable national railway network designed to transform the UAE’s freight transport and logistics mode of operation by modernising the haulage map for the end users, customers as well as operators,” said Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court and Etihad Rail.
The new wagons will be manufactured according to the breaking, signalling, communications control and safety system specifications of Gulf countries.
The expanded fleet will transport domestic and international cargo, including container and bulk freight.
That includes petrochemicals, aggregates, construction-related materials, industrial and perishable goods, waste, aluminium and perishable goods.
Etihad Rail said the second stage of the pan-emirates railway network is “moving forward rapidly”, with contracts having been awarded for construction, civil works, freight facility centres, operations and maintenance headquarters.
Plans for this phase have been approved and work has begun on the construction of rail corridors.
When completed, this section of the network will stretch for 605 kilometres from Ghuweifat on the border with Saudi Arabia to Fujairah and Khorfakkan on the UAE’s east coast.
It will connect the capital’s Khalifa Port, the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi and Mussaffah with Jebel Ali port in Dubai and the Port of Fujairah.
Along with the existing stage-one line at Ruwais, the rail network will unite the major industrial ports and trading centres in the country while connecting the Gulf region.
