The new railway services are going to be set up between Abu Dhabi. the capital city of the Emirates and Al Dhannah located in Al Dhafra. The announcement took place on Wednesday, November 29. To begin with the establishment process an agreement has been signed between Etihad Rail and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Etihad Rail is the developer and operator of the National Rail Network of the United Arab Emirates.

Al Dhannah, the place is a shelter of 29,000 residents in UAE situated about 250 kilometres west of Abu Dhabi. The transformation process of the rural desert town started back in the year 1970. It all started when the place was selected as a suitable site to build houses for the population of the industrial staff of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

With the latest collaboration between Etihad Rails and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the workers who are a part of ADNOC to travel by train without any hassle between the capital city Abu Dhabi, and Al Dhannah in the coming future.

According to the chairman of the Office of Development and Martyrs Families Affairs at the Presidential Court, Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, this partnership will be showcasing “the vision of Etihad Rail to provide world-class passenger experiences”.

The Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director and Group CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber said,  “This partnership with Etihad Rail underscores Adnoc’s commitment to supporting sustainable transportation solutions and infrastructure development projects in the UAE. It also highlights Adnoc’s drive to explore opportunities to strengthen partnerships and implement solutions and technologies that accelerate efforts to reduce emissions, as we work towards our Net Zero by 2045 target.”

This project will highlight the sources for other companies to take a look at the same kind of partnerships.

Etihad Rail is currently continuing to undergo the development to progress the passenger services. Back in time, in December 2022, Etihad Rail signed an agreement of a green loan worth Dh 1.2 billion with First Abu Dhabi Bank or FAB; and another one worth Dh 1.2 billion with CAF company based in Spain in June 2022 for designing the structure, supplying the goods, manufacturing, and preserving the passenger trains.

The first beginning phase of Etihad Rail has been fully serviceable since 2016. In the beginning days, it was only offering freight carriage services. According to the latest announcement made in 2021, the passenger services by Etihad Rails between Abu Dhabi and Al Dhannah aim to run the services and connect 11 cities in between. The train will be capable of picking a top speed of 200 kmph. By choosing this network service, the passengers will be able to reach Dubai in 50 minutes from Abu Dhabi. And complete the distance between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah in 100 minutes. The new service is also expected to catch a total number of 36.5 million passengers every year by 2030.