Abu Dhabi to Dubai railway: what is it like to ride on Etihad Rail?


John Dennehy
  • English
  • Arabic

This is a dream come true, says Ahmed Al Hashemi with a smile, walking along the new railway bridge towards Dubai.

Underneath is the E77 motorway, to the west the sprawling Expo 2020 Dubai site and across in the east the vast UAE desert.

Just a few decades ago camel trains would have passed through between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah. An arduous journey that could take days.

But now an iron railway is carving a permanent route through the country, with diesel engines cutting the journey time to about 100 minutes.

The National was granted rare access to the Abu Dhabi to Dubai line, and the journey we took offers a taste of what passengers can expect once the service is launched.

“We are building something here for generations to come,” says Mr Al Hashemi, the executive director of the passengers sector at Etihad Rail.

We begin the trip at the railhead in Abu Dhabi’s Saih Shuaib. It is a sprawling industrial site with its own factory for making railway sleepers and stacks of new line waiting to be laid.

“The line is just behind this dune,” says Mr Al Hashemi. Passenger services have not started yet so we are travelling on an inspection train. “It is where all the trains between Abu and Dubai will run.”

The driver blasts the horn, backs onto the mainline and then we pick up speed as we travel down towards Dubai. On both sides, the UAE’s scenery unfolds. We pass sand dunes, ghaf trees, homes and factories. The track then curves parallel to Emirates Road (E611) with the trucks, buses and cars on the busy motorway appearing like dots in the distance.

Next is Al Maktoum Airport, with Emirates A380s on the airport’s aprons visible from the windows. The journey is smooth, with the quiet broken only occasionally by the driver sounding the horn. It is probably among the first few times that a train’s horn has been heard in this part of the UAE. Soon it will become commonplace. In under an hour we reach our destination: the new bridge that allows the train to cross the E77 (Expo Road).

“This is a major highway that I have been through many times in my life,” says Mr Al Hashemi, standing on the bridge and gazing down the motorway.

“If you asked me years ago if there’d be a railway line crossing the country through this very same point, it would sound like a dream.

“But today it is a reality.”

The awesome scale of the project is evident from the bridge. Laying down railway line is sometimes called “ironing the land” and it is no misnomer. Metal tracks are being put down in both directions at a rapid pace, while workers build bridges, relocate pipes and cables, and help to rehome wildlife, where needed. We travel over bridges, past power lines and beside forests.

Huge stockpiles of ballast – the angular rocks used on the trackbed that have been quarried from the UAE’s mountains – are piled at intervals along the way. It is clearly a herculean effort.

Ahmed Al Hashemi, executive director of passengers sector, at Etihad Rail on the bridge over the E77 Expo Road. Behind is an inspection train that tests the line. Victor Besa / The National
Ahmed Al Hashemi, executive director of passengers sector, at Etihad Rail on the bridge over the E77 Expo Road. Behind is an inspection train that tests the line. Victor Besa / The National

A launch date for the passenger service has not been announced yet but the line will first connect 11 cities and locations across the UAE. Future route additions are expected, and this brief journey also provides a glimpse at the railway's potential to create new neighbourhoods.

Places that once seemed remote will now be just a short train ride away. And where the railway now passes through empty desert, soon towns could spring up.

But Etihad Rail also offers a more poetic and unburdened way to get around that harks back to a golden age of travel. The stations, Etihad Rail say, will become “urban centres” and aim to celebrate the romance of travel, bringing to mind the great railway stations of the world, such as New York’s Grand Central Station and London’s St Pancras. Freed from the stress of the roads and with more time on their hands, the railway will encourage passengers to relax.

For now, though, the sun has set and we must return. The driver takes us back up the line to Abu Dhabi as the train’s light cuts a beam through the darkness, while a full moon is out by the time we get back to the railhead.

“I remember standing on a sand dune or on a hill or mountain,” says Mr Al Hashemi, reflecting on his early days with the railway.

“To come back and see tracks laid? It fills me with pride.”

This story was first published in January 2022

What Etihad Rail's passenger trains will look like - in pictures

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Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.

Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."

Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.

In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love". 

There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.

While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."

Ain Dubai in numbers

126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure

1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch

16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.

9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.

5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place

192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
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  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
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Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

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Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

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The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


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Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district

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Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.

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The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.

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Updated: March 02, 2022, 5:22 AM`