Atkins has been appointed Preliminary Engineering Consultant for early stages of the 1,200 km Union Railway project in the United Arab Emirates.

The new freight and passenger rail network is intended to form a central element in the modernisation of the UAE’s goods distribution system, linking its ports, population centres, sources of raw materials and industry.

Our 14-month contract will see a multidisciplinary team finalise the concept, and then prepare the preliminary design and tender documents for the construction of stages 0, 1 & 2 of the network. The £11bn railroad, which will form part of a planned Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) railway network, will stretch from the western region of the UAE near the Saudi and Qatari borders and travel across the desert to connect Abu Dhabi emirate with Dubai, Sharjah, other northern emirates and Fujairah outside the Gulf.

• Concept design
• Major project development

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