Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Deutsche Bahn joins Etihad Rail in UAE railway venture | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55330443
Caption:

Buildings are seen under construction, along with rush hour traffic as a Dubai Metro train arrives at a station in Dubai October 31, 2011. (Reuters/Jumana El Heloueh)


Buildings are seen under construction, along with rush hour traffic as a Dubai Metro train arrives at a station in Dubai October 31, 2011. (Reuters/Jumana El Heloueh)

Buildings are seen under construction, along with rush hour traffic as a Dubai Metro train arrives at a station in Dubai on October 31, 2011. (Reuters/Jumana El Heloueh)

Dubai, Reuters—The United Arab Emirates’ railway developer Etihad Rail has signed a joint venture deal with a unit of Germany’s Deutsche Bahn to operate and maintain the Gulf country’s planned 11 billion US dollar rail network, it said on Tuesday.

Gulf Arab oil exporters are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on projects ranging from power to transport as they look to diversify their heavily hydrocarbon-reliant economies and boost regional trade.

Etihad Rail DB will manage operations for the first stage of the railway, transporting granulated sulfur on a 164-mile (264-kilometer) route from Shah and Habshan to the port of Ruwais. It will also act as consultant for future stages of the project.

“The company will pave the way for the railway operations in the UAE and set a benchmark in the region,” Mattar Al-Tayer, Chairman of Etihad Rail DB, said in a statement.

Deutsche Bahn is Europe’s largest railway firm, operating passenger and freight services on a 20 816-mile (33,500-kilometer) rail network.

Upon completion, the UAE’s national railway network will span about 746 miles (1,200 kilometers) as part of the planned Gulf railway network.

In February, state-backed Etihad Rail said it had bank loans of 1.28 billion dollars to build the first phase of the project.