One of the world’s most ambitious construction projects is being built right here
in the middle of a desert.
Six of the Middle East’s wealthiest countries have come together to construct a railway
that will stretch for more than 2,000 kilometres and better connect the region.
But with desert sands to cross and mountains to tunnel through, the project’s challenges
are immense and matched only by the price tag that comes with tackling them.
If it works the new line could unite the Gulf, reshape its transportation sector, reduce
its carbon footprint and kickstart a whole new era of economic development.
Welcome to the $100BN railway in the desert.
Before we get into how the railway is being built, it’s important to understand
why it’s being built in the first place.
Let’s start here, February 1981 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Leaders from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman met
to form a political and economic alliance called the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC.
As a group, they’ve made a lot of money off oil and gas, and that means their economies
are largely tied to the oil market.
Now, around 2008-2009 oil prices plummeted amid the Great Recession
and the GCC economies took a hit.
That’s where the railway comes in.
Diversifying the economies of the Gulf states away from oil and gas will help them develop
stronger economies and the railway lines will help, for example, to connect the nation's
ports with manufacturing hubs, they'll connect nation's ports with urban centres.
In 2009, the GCC approved a massive railway project that would link all six member states.
The cost would be divided among the countries, with the entire project estimated to be between
$100-250 billion.
The most expensive elements being Saudi Arabia’s Metro project and Etihad Railway, an $11 billion,
1,200 kilometre freight and passenger railway that stretches across the Emirates from
the Gulf of Oman to the Persian Gulf.
The country’s first national rail network is being constructed in two stages.
The first was complete in 2016 and spans 264 kilometres from the Habshan and
Shah areas in Abu Dhabi to the port of Ruwais.
In the popular perception, the Arab Gulf states are flat desert countries, and to some extent
that is certainly the case.
But in the northern parts of the Emirates and northern parts of Oman, they have rugged
mountains that reach 3000 meters in elevation.
Parts of this railway system have been just as challenging as building a railway
system in the Rocky Mountains of the U.S.
It’s a tough working environment to say the least.
It can get so hot in the summer that some construction sites operate at night, when
temperatures are closer to a cool 30 degrees Celsius, that's around 86 Fahrenheit.
Sand makes for difficult, shifting terrain.
Etihad learned from others who have built in the desert, including China, Saudi Arabia
and Mauritania.
Those nations found solutions like turning sand dunes to clay over many years, monitoring
the shifting dunes and planting walls of vegetation to block wind and sand.
Etihad Rail’s locomotive design includes a sand filtration system and sand plough to
help it navigate the desert.
In Stage 1, Etihad Rail constructed 20 over-bridges, two under-bridges, 10 road underpasses, and
18 smaller underpasses for future use.
The company also built two factories to produce concrete railway sleepers made from locally
sourced raw materials, which form the base of the tracks.
Each sleeper is 2.6 metres long and weighs 340 kilograms.
They’re attached to the main rails with a fastening system and are used to help stabilise
the track and ensure the train can travel smoothly at speeds of up to 200 kilometres
an hour for passenger services.
But this first route isn’t transporting passengers just yet.
Instead, it’s carrying up to 22,000 tonnes of granulated sulphur across 110 wagons each day
The element is extracted from the oil fields in Abu Dhabi and processed for export at the
port of Ruwais, where it goes on to be used in manufacturing everything
from batteries to fertilizers and even fireworks.
Etihad Rail has transported more than 30 million tonnes of granulated sulphur for the Abu Dhabi
National Oil Company, as of mid-2021.
They say that a single train journey reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 70-80% compared
to if those trips were to be made by trucks.
That’s pretty significant for an economy with one of the biggest carbon footprints in the world.
The efficiency has also helped make the Emirates the world’s top exporter of sulphur,
bringing in $679 million in 2019.
Much of that sulphur likely went to China, the world’s largest importer, who also happens
to be involved in Stage Two of the project.
Stage Two construction began in 2020 and will extend the network 605 kilometres from Ghuweifat
on the border with Saudi Arabia to Fujairah on the east coast.
A $408 million contract put China State Construction Engineering Corporation and South
Korea’s SK Engineering and Construction in charge of the design and building of
139 kilometres of rail line.
Once complete, the network will link the country’s major industrial ports and trading centres,
enabling more than fifty million tonnes of goods to be transported each year.
In a country like Saudi Arabia, like the United Arab Emirates, they are huge in the area and
they contain immense potential for other natural resources that could and would be developed
in the next few decades. And the railway, would help these governments
tap these so far untapped natural resources.
Even with progress being made on the Etihad Rail network, the GCC Rail project as a whole
hasn’t always gone according to plan.
They blocked Qatar from the organisation, putting its role in the railway project into question.
And the pandemic and oil prices have caused logistical delays and cuts to infrastructure
spending, which have pushed the completion date back by years.
The vision of Gulf leaders has emerged from being a vision of ambition and sometimes unrealistic
ambition to a vision of pragmatism.
Etihad hasn’t said exactly when the railway will be open for commuters yet, but when it
is, it might be a tough sell for a country that loves its cars.
One 2020 survey in the UAE found that 83% of people depend on cars,
while only 13% use public transport.
It's primarily an economic value at this point. And the human side is not fully developed
yet. And if there is a question around this project, it will be about the willingness
of the population to jump on the railway line and to go from city to city.
Still, the railway is a huge part of these countries' plans to become more sustainable
and diversify their economies.
And it’s given rise to a new industry, which means new jobs.
Both Saudi Arabia and the Emirates have developed rail studies training programmes.
The Gulf economies have grown exponentially over the last three decades or so, and the
railway lines are more of a complement to a logical complement, a logical extension
to the immense economic growth that the Gulf states have experienced over the last little bit.
The Emirates may be known for its oil wealth and glitzy futuristic developments.
But Etihad Railway is a glimpse into leaders' long-term strategy to build
a more connected, unified Gulf.
Cultural shifts take time, technological shifts can happen more or less overnight.
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