The Middle East’s longest railway tunnel project in the United Arab Emirates has been completed successfully by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).
Etihad Rail, the operator of the United Arab Emirates’ National Rail Network, has completed excavating the longest tunnel in the Gulf Region, running for 1.8 kilometers.
The 1.8-kilometer-long tunnel is a part of Stage Two of Package D. It runs from Dubai and Sharjah for 145 kilometers, through the Al Hajar Mountains, towards the emirate of Fujairah.
The 605-kilometer long Stage Two of Etihad Railways is divided into four main packages – A, B, C & D. Stage two extends from Al Ghuweifat which is on the border of Saudi Arabia with the UAE. It also extends to Fujairah on the eastern coast.
CCECC said that it completed the 1.8-kilometer long T1 tunnel on 19 July. The T1 tunnel forms part of Package D of the second stage of the project of the national railway network, Etihad Railway. The majority of the alignment of Package D mainly passes through the Hajar Mountains.
In December 2019, to link the ports of Fujairah and Khorfakkan to the railway network at the Dubai-Sharjah border, Etihad Rail had announced a contract for the 145-kilometers Package D amounting to an award of 4.6 billion UAE dirhams. The contract was awarded to the National Projects & Construction (NPC) and CRCC as a joint venture.
Package D of stage two includes the construction of 9 tunnels running to a length of 6.9 kilometers through the Hajar Mountains. Additionally, the project includes the construction of 20 underpasses for animal crossing and a total of 54 bridges.
Since the route passes through an extremely complex topographical region in the construction of this network. The achievement is a noteworthy step in the development of the project.
Etihad Rail tweeted on Wednesday that on-ground teams have laid 4 kilometers of rail track across Dubai in two consecutive days. The contract is being executed as a joint venture by Ghantoot Transport & General Contracting Company and China Railway Construction Corporation.