Oman–UAE Railway Project to Begin Trial Operations in Q4 2027

en.Wedoany.com Reported - News from September 22: Said bin Hamoud Al Maawali, Oman's Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, stated that the Oman–UAE cross-border railway Hafeet Rail is planned to begin trial operations in the fourth quarter of 2027. The project has a total length of 238 kilometers and will run from Sohar in Oman through Al Buraimi and Al Ain to connect with the UAE national railway network, serving both passenger and freight functions.

Hafeet Rail is jointly developed by Etihad Rail, Oman Rail, and Mubadala Investment Company. The total project investment is approximately USD 3 billion. Civil works are being carried out by an Oman–UAE consortium led by Trojan Group and Galfar Engineering, the railway systems contract is undertaken by a consortium formed by Siemens and Hassan Allam, and French company Systra is responsible for engineering consultancy. The project has previously secured OMR 577 million in financing from banks and financial institutions.

As of April this year, overall construction progress on Hafeet Rail has reached 40%, with construction covering Al Ain, Al Buraimi, Wadi Al Jizzi, and Sohar. The route passes through mountainous areas, deep valleys, urban and industrial zones. The works include approximately 2.5 kilometers of tunnels, 36 viaducts, 21 overpasses, 39 underpasses, and 881 culverts, and are equipped with an ETCS Level 2 train control system and a fiber-optic communication network. Track laying has since commenced, and the construction focus is gradually shifting from large-scale civil works to railway infrastructure and systems engineering.

According to the design plan, Hafeet Rail passenger trains will have a maximum speed of 200 km/h, with each train accommodating 350 to 400 passengers. The journey from Sohar to Abu Dhabi is expected to take approximately 100 minutes, and from Sohar to Al Ain approximately 47 minutes. Freight trains will have a maximum speed of 120 km/h, with each train capable of transporting more than 15,000 tonnes of cargo, equivalent to approximately 270 to 276 standard containers. The line will also connect more than 12 passenger stations and cities, 5 major ports, and more than 15 integrated freight facilities across the two countries.

Freight operations have already entered the customer and operational preparation stage ahead of schedule. In October 2025, Hafeet Rail signed a preliminary agreement with Noatum Logistics, a subsidiary of AD Ports Group, to launch a dedicated freight service from Sohar to Abu Dhabi after the railway is completed, with plans to operate 7 container trains per week, each with a capacity of 276 TEU, corresponding to an annual transport capacity of approximately 193,200 TEU. The line will directly connect Sohar Port and surrounding industrial zones with the UAE's railway, port, and logistics facilities.

The project is currently still in the construction phase. The fourth quarter of 2027 corresponds to the trial operation milestone, and the official commercial operation date has not yet been announced by Hafeet Rail. The latest timetable further locks in the previously unspecified operational milestone to the end of 2027.