The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is set to launch its first passenger train service this month, the country’s state news agency WAM said on Tuesday.
The announcement came after the UAE’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, inaugurated a new rail station in Abu Dhabi.
WAM reported that trains would initially begin running between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah on June 30. The passenger rail service will later connect four of the country’s seven emirates.
On the Abu Dhabi-Fujairah route, the standard-class fare has been set at 55 dirhams (about US$15) and the premium-class fare at 120 dirhams (about $32).
The Dubai rail station will open on September 30, and the main station in the neighbouring emirate of Sharjah will begin operating on March 30, 2027. The authorities said studies would also begin in future to assess the feasibility of expanding the rail network to other emirates.
Inaugurating the station, Sheikh Khaled said: ‘This project reflects the UAE’s long-term vision of building an integrated transport network. It will boost connectivity between the emirates, make the movement of people and goods more efficient, and create new opportunities for investment, tourism and urban development.’ The new fleet will have a total of 13 trains, each able to carry up to 400 passengers.
It was announced that passengers would be able to book tickets from Tuesday. A plan to introduce a hyperloop-based transport system between Dubai and Abu Dhabi was taken up in 2016, but that project was never realised.
Although the plan to establish rail links among the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council is a longstanding one, progress has been limited. Last December, Saudi Arabia and Qatar signed an agreement to build a high-speed rail line connecting the capitals of the Gulf states. In addition, a $3 billion rail project was announced in 2022 to connect Oman’s Sohar port with Abu Dhabi; officials concerned said about 40 percent of the project had been completed by this April.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report