By the end of the year 2013 or early 2014, the first train service on the UAE's national rail network will start from the capital.

On Monday, the Chairman of the Union Railway Company Hussain Al Nowais came up with the announcement regarding the project plan.

The rail network will be 1,100 km-long and is to be made at a cost of Dh30 billion. It will connect many emirates and will become part of a wider GCC railway project connecting the UAE with Saudi Arabia and Oman.

The rail will join the UAE to Sohar in Oman via Al Ain. Apart from this, the railway will even connect the UAE with Saudi Arabia via the Ghuweifat border and, in turn, to the greater GCC and MENA regions.

Thus, two routes are to be provided by the Union Railways, and these two routes will offer substitute access to the Indian Ocean.

Dr. Abdelgader Elshabani, Senior Transportation Planning Specialist at Abu Dhabi's Department of Transport told that by the month of October 2015, Abu Dhabi will also see the launch of the first part of the 150-kilometre metro railway line.

Dr. Abdelgader said at the conference that the Metro railway will go around the main island of Abu Dhabi.