Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE’s national railway, awarded a contract to China’s CRRC Corporation Limited to triple the number of its wagons and expand its annual capacity eight-fold.
Under the deal, the Chinese state-owned company will manufacture, supply and commission 842 new wagons, Etihad Rail said yesterday.
This will bring the size of its fleet to more than 1,000 units and boost its annual transport capacity to 59 million tonnes.
“Etihad Rail is building a sustainable national railway network designed to transform the UAE’s freight transport and logistics mode of operation by modernising the haulage map for the end users, customers as well as operators,” said Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court and Etihad Rail.
The new wagons will be manufactured according to the breaking, signalling, communications control and safety system specifications of Gulf countries.
The expanded fleet will transport domestic and international cargo, including container and bulk freight.
That includes petrochemicals, aggregates, construction-related materials, industrial and perishable goods, waste, aluminium and perishable goods.
Etihad Rail said the second stage of the pan-emirates railway network is “moving forward rapidly”, with contracts having been awarded for construction, civil works, freight facility centres, operations and maintenance headquarters.
Plans for this phase have been approved and work has begun on the construction of rail corridors.
When completed, this section of the network will stretch for 605 kilometres from Ghuweifat on the border with Saudi Arabia to Fujairah and Khorfakkan on the UAE’s east coast.
It will connect the capital’s Khalifa Port, the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi and Mussaffah with Jebel Ali port in Dubai and the Port of Fujairah.
Along with the existing stage-one line at Ruwais, the rail network will unite the major industrial ports and trading centres in the country while connecting the Gulf region.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
More coverage from the Future Forum
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
if you go
The flights
Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.
The hotel
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Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850
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Events and tours
There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com
For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art.
More information
For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan v Juventus
Saturday, 10.45pm (UAE)
Watch the match on BeIN Sports
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- 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.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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1.
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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7.
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Singapore
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8.
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Australia
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9.
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Saudi Arabia
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10.
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South Korea
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