In mid-2013, the Government of the United Arab Emirates gave an impulse to the second stage of the development plan of one of the most impressive and significant infrastructure projects presently being built: the Etihad Federal Rail, a railway line that will connect Khalifa, the new port of Abu Dhabi, with Jebel Ali, Dubai’s Port, reaching al-Ain and pushing itself toward the border with Saudi Arabia.
The 1,200 km railway lines that will join the main urban and industrial centers of the United Arab Emirates will be completed by 2018, through the completion of the third phase of the Etihad Federal Rail project, aimed at creating an additional connection with the Emirate of Fujairah and Oman. This last cycle will set the stage of a larger plan which will involve six GCC countries for the construction of a rail network that will connect Kuwait to southern Oman, through the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.
In the future, the network is expected to become even larger, eventually reaching Jordan, Syria and Turkey.
The UAE Government is also considering the possibility of connecting at a later stage the rail network currently under construction to the Dubai Metro.
(Bologna Office – Linda Tontodonati – 0039 (0)51 2750020)
