THE crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, officially opened the new Mohamed bin Zayed passenger station in Abu Dhabi on June 23 ahead of the launch of the UAE’s first public passenger service on June 30.
Etihad Rail will operate three non-stop round trips per day initially between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah with a journey time of 1h 59min except for the 05.34 Fujairah - Abu Dhabi service which will take 2h 11min.
Ticket sales have already started for the new service with fares being offered at a 50% discount. A single journey costs Dirhams 55 ($US 14.97) in Comfort class and Dirhams 120 in Premium. Passengers must pay extra to be able to select seats, change tickets and be eligible for a refund.
Intermediate stations at Dubai Jumeirah Golf Estates and Sharjah Al Dhaid will open on September 30. Al Dhafra station between Sharjah and Fujairah will open on December 30, followed by Sharjah University City on March 30 2027.
The immediate stations are located on branch lines off the main line, requiring trains to reverse at each station.
Etihad Rail awarded a contract to Keolis in October 2025 to operate the passenger service as a 50:50 joint venture. Traffic is expected to reach 10 million passengers per year.
Services will be operated by nine seven-car diesel trains supplied by CAF and four five-car trains supplied by CRRC.
