National railway

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is finalising plans for a 350 km railway to link Abu Dhabi to the east coast and eventually be connected into the proposed GCC- (Gulf Cooperation Council) wide railway network.

“We are studying it now. We need to finalise it and present it to the government,” said development minister Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri. “It is one of the strategic plans of the UAE government to create a railway system for both passengers and cargo and will ease a lot of the trucking congestion.”

Container volumes in the UAE, which Mr Al Mansouri was quoted as saying the governments wants to reduce, are rising rapidly as it increasingly becomes a major global trading hub. Rising population levels are also increasing the strain on the region's roads, so several governments, including Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, are now looking to rail and mass transit systems.