ETIHAD Rail operated its first regular timetabled passenger services on June 30. Trains were introduced between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah, and true to style, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) national railway confirmed the initial timetable and began selling tickets just a week before the launch, which was announced at the official opening of Mohamed bin Zayed passenger station in Abu Dhabi on June 23.

Initially three non-stop round trips per day are running between the two cities and almost all available tickets for July sold out within days of going on sale. Demand will increase further when intermediate stations at Dubai Jumeirah Golf Estates and Sharjah Al Dhaid open on September 30 followed by Al Dhafra station between Sharjah and Fujairah on December 30 and Sharjah University City on March 30 2027. Etihad Rail anticipates carrying 10 million passengers per year on the route.

The introduction of passenger services on the line that opened to freight traffic in 2023 is the culmination of a near 20-year project and a major milestone for rail in the region. It also reaffirms the UAE government’s continuing commitment to growing traffic on its developing rail network.

This is especially encouraging given the crisis that has engulfed the region since the US and Israel launched their war with Iran. Iranian missile and drone attacks on cities such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the early weeks of the conflict in February, March and April trashed the region’s reputation as a highly safe place to do business and go on holiday. The ensuing disruption of maritime traffic through the strait of Hormuz, which is controlled by Iran, has also resulted in significant regional and global economic damage, the extent of which is not yet fully understood.

Yet speculation, including in these pages, that the crisis may prompt Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) governments to withdraw from previous commitments to rail, as they did during the oil crisis of 2014-2016, do not appear to be materialising. Quite the opposite in fact. Governments recognise how the crisis exposed the vulnerability of their transport and logistics networks and are now actively working to improve resilience by offering viable alternatives.

Saudi Arabia, in particular, has acted quickly. Short term measures include launching new rail-based logistics corridors connecting ports on the gulf with the north of the country. It has also moved to progress some of its long-promised major projects that have been held up in recent years.

Governments recognise how the crisis exposed the vulnerability of their transport and logistics networks.

This includes the Landbridge, the 1500km railway connecting Jeddah on the Red Sea with Riyadh and Damman on the Gulf, which will require construction of a new 950km line between Jeddah and the capital, and would offer a viable alternative to the strait. The project was proposed as long ago as 2004, but halted by the oil crisis, before its revival in the early 2020s as part of the Saudi Vision 2030. Since then, Saudi Arabia has mulled over how to fund the estimated
$US 7bn cost of construction, with various models mooted. Despite selecting a consortium of Italferr, Sener and Hill International as preferred bidders for a project management services contract in December 2023, progress has been slow. Bidding for a lead design contract also closed in May 2025 with no immediate winner confirmed. However, with reports in the local media suggesting that Spanish engineering firm Typsa has now been awarded the contract, the pace of development could be about to pick up.

GCC network

Bids also closed on June 30 for a tender for a design consultancy services contract for the 672km Saudi section of the 2177km GCC network linking the six Gulf States. The Saudis have tended to prioritise other projects over the GCC, so this appears a significant moment. It should also embolden efforts by Kuwait to connect with the future Saudi network at Al-Khafji having awarded an engineering and consultancy services contract to Turkish firm Proyapi Muhendislik for its 111km section in April 2025. The UAE, which has completed a 684km section of the GCC to the Saudi border at Ghuweifat, is also making encouraging progress on the Hafeet Rail project in cooperation with Oman, reaching 50% completion on the 303km line from Abu Dhabi to Sohar in Oman.

Even more bold is the assertion by Turkey’s minister of transport, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, that a direct rail connection will be provided between Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey “within the next three or four years,” reviving the Ottoman-era Hedjaz railway. Uraloğlu cites “the uninterrupted functioning of trade and the logistics chain” as driving the project, with Turkey signing several memoranda of understanding with neighbouring governments in recent months. Saudi Arabia is also reportedly conducting a feasibility study for a new line from Medina to the Jordanian border.

For its part, Turkey completed a project to rehabilitate the 325km line from Karkamis to Nusaybin on the border with Syria earlier this year, while it is making encouraging progress on upgrading the line from Istanbul to the Bulgarian border. It is also proposing a second line beneath the Marmaray in Istanbul, which will offer dramatic improvement in rail capacity and will form a key part of any future corridor.

With the political will seemingly there, the emphasis will soon shift to execution. As Omar Benzaria of Egis argues, rail is facing an opportune moment in the region, but success will not be defined by the number of kilometres built, but the quality and performance of the systems delivered. Crisis often breeds opportunity, and for rail in the Middle East, it may be that some of the region’s - and the global industry’s - most high-profile and long-promised projects may now finally get over the line.