Etihad Rail's luxury train service to begin in 2028 'if all goes to plan'

Standard passenger service of rail network is set to launch next year, initially connecting 11 areas within the UAE

Paolo Barletta, chief executive of Arsenale Group, the Italian company building Etihad Rail's luxury train. Photo: Arsenale Group

The launch of the Etihad Rail passenger service next year will be followed by a luxury train service in 2028 “if all goes according to plan”, according to the Italian hospitality company responsible for building the carriages.

Paolo Barletta, chief executive of Arsenale Group, said on Friday that plans for the luxury service are on schedule.

“The Etihad Rail infrastructure is getting longer every day, completing important miles. We hope that as soon as the network is completed and in operation, we will be able to come with one of our trains a short time after that,” he tells The National.

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Barletta's company, which is also building Saudi Arabia's Dream of the Desert luxury train, signed an agreement with Etihad Rail in 2023 for a luxury service that will benefit from the railway's vast network. Etihad Rail's passenger service, which will initially connect 11 areas within the UAE, is set to launch next year. The service will eventually connect all seven emirates, transforming the country's transport system.

The luxury trains, to be built by Arsenale Group, are expected to cross the UAE from Fujairah in the east down to Liwa Desert in Abu Dhabi. The train will comprise 15 luxury carriages, which are currently being built in Italy.

“We hope we will be as successful as in Saudi Arabia and maybe we can have a running train by 2028 in the UAE,” Barletta says.

He was at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh earlier this week to unveil a mock-up of ultra-luxury Dream of the Desert, which is scheduled to begin operations next year.

A model carriage of luxury train Dream of the Desert, the Middle East's first five-star train. Photo: Arsenale Group

Billed as the first five-star train in the Middle East, it has 31 private suites and two presidential suites, and can accommodate up to 66 guests. The train also includes two restaurant cars and a majlis lounge “adorned with finely carved wood finishes, desert-inspired hues and golden accents that reflect the warmth and richness of Saudi heritage”.

Dream of the Desert will travel from Riyadh along 1,300km of existing railway lines and make stops at locations “that showcase Saudi Arabia’s most captivating landscapes and destinations”. These include Unesco World Heritage sites as well as “another extraordinary hidden destination” to be revealed soon.

The train's interior has been realised by Lebanon-born architect and designer Aline Asmar d'Amman, founder of Culture in Architecture studio, and honours Saudi and Italian design heritage, Arsenale Group said.

Luxury train travel is the “perfect way to visit a country”, says Barletta. “You have hotels and you have cruise ships, but these hotels on wheels give you the kind of experience you can't get any other way.

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“Trains give you the opportunity to discover the country in a different way. To visit all the mountains that are in Hatta before you get to Fujairah, the beauty of the Empty Quarter in the desert of Liwa... there is so much in the country that can be explored. And with luxury trains, you can do it in maximum comfort. You just arrive at the station, embark on a train and the day after you are in a different place.”

He also hopes a resurgence of rail travel in the GCC will lead to growing demand for luxury travel. Across the Gulf, more rail links are in the works with all six member states at various levels of progress on a 2,000km, region-wide railway project due to be completed in 2030.

“It is something that in the next 10 years will be a reality... tracks that will go from the UAE to Oman to Saudi Arabia to Qatar to Bahrain,” says Barletta. “Imagine how incredible it will be that in three or four days, I can take a train in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, and one day I'm in Saudi Arabia, one day I'm in Oman, the other day I'm back in the desert of Liwa.”