The UAE government is actively studying public-private partnership finance options to build an emirates-wide freight railway costing up to US $3.8 billion (AED14 billion).
The freight network would stretch from 700 to 1000 km in length and link up with a raft of other major rail schemes currently under study throughout the Gulf.
The most likely financing option for the project is a PPP-style deal whereby a consortium would build and operate the railway following completion, according to Dr Nasser Saif Al Mansoori, assistant under-secretary at the Department of Planning and Economy.
He outlined plans for the railway at this week’s Gulf Traffic exhibition in Dubai, where several other multi-billion dollar rail projects were also discussed.
The Emirates Railway would extend from the Ruwais Industrial Area in Abu Dhabi to Ras Al Khaimah’s Port Saqr and link up with Fujairah and Jebel Ali ports.
German consultant Dornier is already working on a feasibility study for the railway which would cement the UAE’s position as the distribution hub of the Middle East.
Horst Draudt, a director at Dornier, said the biggest challenge would be defining the roles within the PPP framework:“Clearly defining the roles of the government and private enterprise and how the risks and returns will be shared will be a major challenge — will the government have a stake in the overall project or will it just provide the land and legal structure?”
The project is just one of several rail mega-projects planned for the region, which include the $5 billion Saudi Landbridge railway.
But the most ambitious plan to have been unveiled so far is for an Arabian railway network extending in a giant loop from the Syrian/Turkish border, through Iraq and along the Arabian Peninsula’s Gulf, Arabian Sea and Red Sea coasts.
Murhaf Al Sabouni, general secretary of the Syria-based Arab Railway Union, revealed that Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah could be main line stops on the 1860km “third artery” of the proposed rail network between Basra and Muscat.
The northern emirates of Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah, along with Fujairah, would be branch line stations.It would for the first time enable train journeys from Dubai to Damascus.
A study into the giant railway has already been conducted by the Arab Railway Union and the Syrian General Corporation for Railways, in association with the Arab Transport Ministers Council of the Arab League.
“The network would cover 25 000 km, from the Syrian/ Turkish border in the north to Aden in the south, west through Arabic-speaking North Africa to Mauritania on the Atlantic coast and as far east as the Iraqi border with Iran,” said Al Sabouni.
Contractors can also look forward to a clutch of smaller transit systems planned for the UAE, including a light rail project on Nakheel’s Dubai Waterfront and a monorail in Abu Dhabi.
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