Gulf Construction Online - First rail contract on track for year end

UAE Focus

First rail contract on track for year end

01 April 2010

UNION Railway Company is planning to award the UAE’s first railway construction contract by the end of this year, a top official of the state-owned firm was quoted as saying in a report.

The contract involves a 270-km freight line connecting the hydrocarbon processing hub of Ruwais oil field with the newly-developed Shah gas fields in the Western Region.
This will be the first phase of the 1,500-km railway network which will be built over next seven years.
Union Railway chief executive officer Richard Bowker told the local Khaleej Times the total cost of the project has yet to be finalised, but it is estimated to be in the range of Dh30 billion to 40 billion ($8 billion to $11 billion).
The railway, which will be part of the GCC railway network, will be connected to Sohar in Oman and in Saudi Arabia and will later be linked to Jordan and other Middle Eastern countries.
According to Bowker, the railway project in Abu Dhabi is well-defined, but “more work needs to be done” for Dubai and the Northern Emirates. He also revealed that Union Railway is looking into the feasibility of building a high-speed passenger rail between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but plans are in the very early stages. He expects the contract for this will draw a lot of interest from international firms.
“The construction process for the first railway line will start on March 24, with an industry outreach session for the companies interested in bidding for the contract,” Bowler told the newspaper last month.
“Between March and September, pre-qualification processes will be carried out before the project is finally awarded at the end of the year.”
The freight line between Ruwais and Shah on the Arabian Gulf coast is likely to be completed by the end of 2013, with the company looking at all financing options for the project.
“This project is considered to be of major international interest. We expect a high level of interest from everywhere,” he said.
Union Railway was formed with a mandate to manage the development, construction and operation of the UAE’s national railway. The railway will be built to link the principal centres of population and industry of the country and form a part of the GCC network.
Built to international standards of inter-operability, the network will run up to the speeds of 120 km per hour for freight transport, and up to 200 km per hour for passenger transport.