Contractors Form Joint Ventures for UAE High-Speed Rail Link Between Abu Dhabi and Dubai
Contractors are forming joint ventures for the upcoming design and construction packages for the high-speed rail link connecting Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Companies have to submit their joint venture confirmation forms by August 28.
With an initial deadline of July 31, the client issued a notice to contractors to pre-qualify the contract for the design and construction of the civil works package in the first week of July.
The high-speed project will reduce travel time between the UAE’s two largest cities and economic hubs.
It is separate from the Etihad Rail passenger service, which will travel at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour (km/h) and use the same network as the UAE’s freight rail network, for which construction has now been completed.
In February, Etihad Rail is expected to begin the pre-qualification process for the UAE’s high-speed rail line connecting Abu Dhabi and Dubai by the end of Q2 2024 exclusively for MEED.
Etihad Rail asked contractors to express their interest in early work on the project in February.
In the initial work for the UAE’s high-speed network, a contractor cleans and prepares the sites for the actual construction work. This usually involves moving earth and diverting existing infrastructure and utilities in the area.
The preliminary test work for this has started. Dubai-based Metcon Testing Laboratory and Abu Dhabi’s Engineering & Research International are conducting drilling tests to determine the ground conditions in the areas where the high-speed rail passes. The trial is underway in Jadab area of Dubai.
Spanish engineering firms Sener and Ineco are the project’s engineering consultants.
High-speed rail services travel at a speed of 300 kmph. According to a report by MEED’s sister site Railway Technology, the top 10 fastest train services in the world are:
| Train Model | Speed (km/h) | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Shanghai Maglev | 460 | China |
| CR Harmony | 350 | China |
| CR Fuxing | 350 | China |
| DB ICE | 350 | Germany |
| SCNCF TGV | 320 | France |
| JR Shinkansen | 320 | Japan |
| ONCF Al-Borac | 320 | Morocco |
| Renfe AVE 103 | 310 | Spain |
| Korea KTX-Sancheon | 305 | South Korea |
| Trenitalia Frecciarossa 1000 | 300 | Italy |
AED50bn rail links
By late 2021, the UAE has launched an AED50bn ($13.6bn) plan to establish an integrated freight and passenger transport system across the country.
The project comprises three projects, the first of which is the freight rail component, which includes Etihad Rail’s freight capacity.
The second project, rail passenger services, aims to connect 11 cities in the UAE from Al-Sila to Fujairah. The passenger transport project seeks to reduce travel time between Abu Dhabi and Dubai to 50 minutes and between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah to 100 minutes.
More than 36.5 million passengers are expected to use the system by 2030.
The third project of the project involving integrated transport services involves the establishment of an innovation center to integrate smart transport solutions into the overall project. A light rail network will be linked to the rail passenger system to facilitate transportation within UAE cities.
These projects will add to existing and under-construction components of the network.