Four stations in Dubai will eventually plug into the Etihad Rail network, with half of them dedicated to the planned high-speed service between the emirate and Abu Dhabi, according to the city’s transport regulator.
The detail came from Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), who was speaking Monday at a press conference called to unveil the first RailX Dubai Conference and Exhibition.
Two of those stations belong to the national Etihad Rail project, which Al Tayer said links Dubai into the country’s broader rail system. One is Al Yalayis Station, the emirate’s principal passenger hub for Etihad Rail, scheduled to begin operating September 30. A second station forms part of the same tie-in, though Al Tayer stopped short of identifying it.
The remaining pair stems from a distinct undertaking: the high-speed corridor connecting Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Al Tayer placed one of these at Al Maktoum International Airport and the other in Al Jaddaf. RTA’s 2032 rail map traces the high-speed route alongside the Red Line, largely following Al Khail Road.
Etihad Rail has described the high-speed line as a leap forward for movement within the country, promising to change how residents travel between its two biggest commercial centers. Running on its own fully electrified track, the service is expected to cut the Abu Dhabi–Dubai journey to roughly 30 minutes, which the company frames as a benchmark for speed and connectivity and a structural change in how the UAE links people, businesses and opportunity.
According to Al Tayer, all of this will be folded into Dubai’s existing rail infrastructure, joining the Red, Green and Blue Metro lines along with prospective additions still being weighed, among them a proposed Gold Line. He said most lines should interconnect at the new stations, knitting together separate districts.
Al Tayer noted the master plan spells out this integration explicitly, aiming for a transport system that ties UAE cities to Dubai, with Etihad Rail central to the plan and the RTA collaborating closely with the company under a complementary strategy.
