UAE’s Etihad Rail gets green signal to start operations
Safety authorisations granted for stage one of $11bn network
The UAE’s Etihad Rail has been granted the safety authorisations to start operations on the first phase of its $11 billion network.
The developer and operator of the UAE’s national rail network was given the green signal to commence commercial operations between Habshan, Shah, Mirfa and Ruwais.
Approval was granted by Abdulla Bilhaif al-Nuaimi, Minister of Public Works, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Transport Authority – Land & Maritime (FTA), according to state news agency WAM.
The safety authorisations accredited Etihad Rail’s operations partner Etihad Rail DB to commence commercial operations on the 264km route, which forms part of the wider UAE network spanning across 1,200 kilometres, and the future GCC route.
The first stage of the network will transport sulphur from Shah and Habshan to the port of Ruwais on two daily trains, each transporting 11,000 tonnes. “This will dramatically decrease the number of trucks on the road,” WAM reported.
“During the past year, we have already transported more than three million tonnes of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to the port of Ruwais for our customer, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), as part of the testing and commissioning and trial operations phases,” said Nasser Alsowaidi, Chairman of Etihad Rail
“We now look forward to taking our operations to full commercial capacity, which will see Etihad Rail transport as much as seven million tonnes of sulphur every year.”
