By rosebell
As the region’s first cross-border rail network, tunneling works have started for the Oman-UAE Joint Railway Network.
The drilling and blasting work is undergoing on the tunnel portals in the Al-Hajar Mountains in the governorate of Al-Buraimi, as Hafeet Rail, which is the project’s developer and operator, announced on 8 October.
While deliver of the first tracks at Oman’s Sohar Port to Hafeet Rail was done earlier this month, at the same time, the project is advancing with earthworks and the construction of other key infrastructure, including 881 culverts and 57 bridges, some of which are up to 34m high.
Linking Sohar Port to the UAE national rail network, this 238km-long projects’s value is US$3bn and will include 2.5km of tunnels.
In order to providing journey times from Sohar to Abu Dhabi of 1 hour 40 minutes, and 47 minutes from Sohar to Al Ain, passenger trains are due to travel at a maximum speed of 200km/h and freight trains will travel at up to 120km/h.
