A Landscape سکـــــة على المستقبـــــــل Reimagined: Dawn The Shawati’ 74 74 شواطئ F تفتتح عصــــــــر قطــــــارات الركاب of the UAE’s Passenger Rail Era الإمــــــــــــــــــــــارات Words Heba Hashem | هبة هاشم بقلم 84 لمــــــا يقــــــارب عقدين من الزمن، بدا الأمر أقرب إلى حلم بعيد المنال. كان السائقون يشاهدون الجسور الحديدية العملاقة ترتفع فوق الطرق الســــــريعة، فيما كانت قطارات الشــــــحن تشق الكثبان الرملية حاملة الكبريت والركام، قبل أن يطأها المسافرون بسنوات. ومع كل بضعة أشهر، كان إنجاز جديد يلوح في الأفق، أو محطة أخرى ترتفع هياكلها شيئًا فشيئًا. غير أن ســــــؤال واحدًا ظل يرافق الجميع طوال تلك الرحلة: متى تُفتح أبوابه للمسافرين؟ ، انقضى زمــــــن النتظار. 2026 وفــــــي الثلاثيــــــن من يونيــــــو فوســــــط تصفيق الحشود، خرج مشــــــروع قطارات الركاب التابعة لشركة قطارات التحاد من حيّز الرؤيـــــــة والطمــــــوح إلى واقع نابــــــــــــــض بالحيــــــاة. وانطلقت أولى رحلاته إيذانًا ببدء مرحلة جديـــــــــــدة، عقـــــــب افتتاح سمو الشيخ خالد بن محمد بن زايد آل نهيان، ولـي عهد أبوظبي رئيـس المجلس For nearly 20 years, it felt like a distant dream. Drivers watched massive railway bridges rise above highways. Freight trains slipped across the dunes carrying sulphur and aggregates long before passengers ever set foot aboard. Every few months brought another milestone, another station skeleton taking shape. But through all the years of watching it grow, one question remained: When would we finally be able to ride it? On 30 June 2026, the waiting ended. With the applause of gathered crowds, Etihad Rail’s passenger rail network transitioned from a visionary blueprint into a triumphant reality. The inaugural passenger service roared to life following the official opening of Abu Dhabi’s Mohamed bin Zayed City Passenger Train Station by His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. Right now, this pioneering route connects Abu Dhabi directly to the east coast terminal in Fujairah, offering a faster, more sustainable alternative to the tradi- tional cross-country drive. Instead of navigating congestion, monitoring speed cameras, and mapping out fuel stops, passengers can now sit back, relax, and watch the diverse topography of the UAE roll past their windows. A NEW WAY TO TRAVEL لما 85 For a generation raised against a backdrop of multi-lane highways and car-cen- tric urban planning, the introduction of passenger rail is a refreshing cultural pivot. The United Arab Emirates has long been celebrated for its immaculate road infrastructure, but trains introduce an entirely different ethos to regional travel: the art of slowing down. The maiden voyage between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah has already demonstrated how drastically this new mode of transport will alter the rhythm of everyday life. By bypassing highway traffic entirely, the system delivers predictable transit - cutting the two-and-a-half-hour drive to a reliable one hour and 45 minutes. Along the way, travellers are treated to cinematic landscapes that evolve in stag- es, changing from the gleaming glass of city skylines to the expansive majesty of the desert before terminating amidst the rugged crags of the Hajar Mountains. ETIHAD RAIL – KEY NETWORK SPECIFICATIONS Metric System Capability & Impact Top Operational Speed 200 km/h Train Capacity Up to 400 passengers per train [fleet of 13] Total Planned Stations 11 cities and key hubs Abu Dhabi to Dubai Transit Time 57 minutes Projected Economic Benefit AED 145 billion over 50 years Annual CO2 Emissions Reduction 8.2 million tonnes Projected Annual Ridership 36 million passengers by 2030 This seamless connection sparks a wave of spontaneous inter-emirate travel, granting Fujairah a revitalised weekend appeal where spontaneous coastal es- capes, mountain hiking retreats, or cross-country dinner plans no longer re- quire the mental calculation of a round-trip drive. Hayatona – Our Life
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