Excavation work on the longest tunnel of the Etihad Rail project has been completed, said China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.
The company, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation, completed tunnelling work on the 1.8 kilometre T1 tunnel in the Hajar mountains for section D of stage 2 of the project.
Softer blasts were used to make the tunnel because of the terrain, International Railway Journal reported.
In December 2019, Etihad Rail awarded a Dh4.6bn contract to the Chinese joint venture to work on the 145km link alongside the borders of Sharjah, Fujairah and Dubai, which includes building 15 tunnels through the Hajar Mountains with a total length of 16km as well as the construction of 35 bridges and 32 underpasses.
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Once complete, the Etihad Rail network will connect all of the Emirates – from Ghweifat in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi to Fujairah on the east coast. It will also link with Saudi Arabia. AFP -
The link will take an estimated 375,000 vehicles off the roads. AFP -
Inside an Etihad Rail train at Al Mirfa in Abu Dhabi. The complete network will feature 1,200 kilometres of track. AFP -
An Etihad Rail train at Al Mirfa. A fully loaded freight train can carry the equivalent cargo of 300 lorries – reducing carbon dioxide emission by up to 80 per cent. AFP -
An Etihad Rail technician at work on a train at Al Mirfa. Greenhouse gases will be slashed by more than 2.2 million tonnes a year once the network is fully operational. AFP -
An Etihad Rail train at Al Mirfa. A contract to manufacture and supply 842 carriages will take the total fleet to more than 1,000, an eightfold increase in Etihad Rail’s transport capacity. AFP -
Trains will carry petrochemicals, aggregates, construction materials, industrial waste, aluminium, perishable goods and general domestic and international cargo. AFP -
Engineers work on an Etihad Rail train at Al Mirfa. While freight is the immediate priority, passenger transport will become a key focus in years to come. AFP -
Although much of the route is through flat desert, engineers must excavate at least 15 tunnels through the Hajar Mountains and build 35 bridges for heavy cargo loads. AFP -
Laying of track on stage two commenced at the beginning of 2021, from the railhead in Ruwais, in Abu Dhabi, running westwards towards Saudi Arabia. When completed, the UAE’s national rail network will have a total annual capacity of more than 50 million tonnes of goods. AFP
The Etihad Rail is being built in three phases.
It was established in 2009 and the first phase, a 264km stretch between Al Ruwais and the Shah and Habshan gasfield in Abu Dhabi, became operational in 2016.
Each day, two trains run across the country, capable of transporting up to 22,000 tonnes of sulphur, and each train can take up to 110 wagons.
When complete, the railway network will link the main population and industrial centres in the UAE and will form a vital part of a planned network across the region.
In stage two of the project, more than 600km of track will be laid down from Ghuweifat, on the border with Saudi Arabia, to Fujairah on the east coast.
The contracts for stage two of the project were awarded in the form of packages A, B, C and D to SK Engineering and Construction, a South Korean company, and China State Construction Engineering Corporation, for civil engineering, track works, designing and building the project.
Tracklaying for two packages of Phase 2 of the Etihad Rail project is under way.
