Hafeet Rail all set to enter construction stage

Muscat: The partnership agreements signed between stakeholders on Tuesday will mark the actual start of the construction of the railway linking between the two countries.

It may be noted that Oman and Etihad Rail Company (OERC) launched a new brand identity for the railway network, which will be now called 'Hafeet Rail.'

The WAM agency quoted Mohammed bin Zahran al Mahruqi, Deputy CEO of Hafeet Rail as saying that the Oman-UAE railway project will serve multiple sectors in both countries and contribute to the development of new sectors previously nonexistent due to the difficulty of transporting goods.



He added, 'On Tuesday, we witnessed the signing of the partnership agreement for the UAE-Oman railway project between 'Etihad Rail' and 'Oman Rail' along with Mubadala Investment Company. The signing of the agreement marks the actual start of the project and construction works.

Construction works assigned to an alliance led by Trojan Construction Group and Galfar Engineering and Contracting. 'The tender allocation reflects a clear vision aimed at empowering and developing national cadres and contractors, enhancing local value-added, and involving the private sector in this vital sector.'

He pointed out the project has environmental benefits by reducing carbon dioxide emissions because the train's capacity will be equivalent to 300 trucks, which will reduce 80 percent of carbon emissions generated by trucks.



He highlighted the signing of an agreement to allocate control and communication systems with Siemens and HIC Corporation, providing the latest systems and technologies for train control and communication with the network.

He explained that the control system will be based on the latest European Train Control System (Level 2), providing ease and smoothness in train control and communication while ensuring necessary safety measures.

The 303-km railway will link Suhar to Abu Dhabi with passenger trains designed to reduce travel time to 1 hour 40 minutes. Travel time between Suhar and Al Ain will be reduced to 47 minutes, traveling at a maximum speed of 200 km/h with a capacity to ferry 12,000 passengers per day

The freight trains will run up to 120 km/h with a capacity to carry 250,000 containers at the start of the line's operation.