Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Executive Council member, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Transport and chairman of Etihad Rail, has chaired a meeting of the board of directors of Etihad Rail in the Al Dhafra region. The chairman was accompanied by Mattar Al Tayer, vice chairman of the board of directors, and other members of the board.
Al Nahyan reviewed Etihad Rail’s new strategy and goals in the meeting, and was briefed on the company’s operational progress to date, future plans and initiatives.
Prior to the meeting, Al Nahyan toured the Etihad Rail site in Mirfa, visiting and inspecting a number of facilities including the Operations Control Centre, the maintenance building, and the company’s fleet of locomotives and wagons.
During the visit, the chairman also met with a number of Emirati employees from the Al Dhafra region. Al Nahyan heard first-hand of the employees’ pride in working on such an ambitious national project and witnessed their dedication to learning and developing as the project grows in the future.
The railway has so far transported 18.2mn tonnes of sulphur granules from its sources in Shah and Habshan to the export point in Ruwais. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company extracts sour gas from the Shah gas field and generates around 3.5mn tonnes per annum of sulphur during the sweetening process.
Etihad Rail was established in June 2009 with a mandate to manage the development, construction and operation of the UAE’s national freight and passenger railway network. The railway network will link principal centres of population and industry in the UAE, and will form a vital part of the planned GCC railway network.
Etihad Rail has successfully completed stage one of the network.
