The desert is getting tracks. The UAE‘s throwing Dh40 billion at a 1,200-kilometer rail network that connects all seven emirates, because why not challenge geography itself? This isn’t some modest metro line. It’s a full-scale assault on distance and sand.
The network’s been creeping forward since 2016, starting with freight trains hauling cargo across empty stretches of desert. Since then, trains have been moving granulated sulphur across 264 kilometers of operational track, with daily capacities hitting 22,000 tonnes. Then February 2023 hit, and suddenly 605 kilometers of track stretched from Ghuweifat to Fujairah. That’s Stage Two, for those keeping score. The builders didn’t mess around – they punched through mountains with nine tunnels between Dubai and Sharjah alone.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Officials announced a 350 km/h bullet train between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Thirty minutes city to city. Currently? You’re looking at over 90 minutes in traffic, watching brake lights and questioning life choices. The standard trains aren’t slouches either – 200 km/h with 400 passengers packed inside.
The construction numbers read like someone got carried away with infrastructure simulator software. Twenty-nine bridges. Sixty crossings. 137 drainage channels because, surprise, deserts occasionally flood. Package A, B, C, D – they labeled construction phases like vitamins, methodically connecting dots on the map. March 2022 saw the Abu Dhabi-Dubai direct line completed. Progress, apparently, doesn’t wait. SD70ACS locomotives pull the freight, each hauling 100 wagons or 5,000 tonnes across the desert.
Passenger service launches in 2026. Three years to wait while watching concrete pillars rise from sand. Abu Dhabi to Fujairah in 105 minutes. Dubai to Fujairah in 50. Numbers that make driving feel prehistoric. Each station links to existing transport – no isolated terminals in the middle of nowhere.
The economic projections are predictably massive – AED145 billion added to GDP. First rail link between UAE and Saudi Arabia through Ghuweifat. Stage 3 plans another 279 kilometers to the northern emirates. By 2030, they claim, it’s all operational.
The desert’s getting steel arteries. Cities that used to feel distant are becoming neighbors. Geography’s losing this fight, one kilometer of track at a time.
References
- https://www.travelsdubai.com/15-May-2025/uae-travel-here-s-when-etihad-rail-will-finally-welcome-passengers-onboard
- https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/etihad-rail/
- https://www.agbi.com/infrastructure/2025/01/etihad-rail-train-to-link-abu-dhabi-and-dubai-in-30-minutes/
- https://urbantransportnews.com/news/the-future-of-transportation-in-the-uae-mega-projects-set-to-transform-urban-mobility
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etihad_Rail
