Etihad Rail, the builder and operator of UAE’s national railway network, is on schedule to complete the project in five years, said a top official.

"Looking at stage one alone, construction is well under way, the sleeper factory in Mirfa is fully functional, and wagons have already arrived,” Shadi Malak, executive director of Commercial and Operations, Etihad Rail, was quoted as saying by WAM, the Emirates news agency.

“Our locomotives also arrived in April, and we are on schedule for the first train to run from Habshan to Ruwais by the end of this year.”

The three-stage $10 billion plan will lay down a 1,200 kilometre network connecting Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ras Al-Khaimah and Khor Fakkan by 2018, said the WAM report.

"Etihad Rail plans to operate some passenger trains between Abu Dhabi and Dubai once stage three is in place by 2018. We have considered the possibility of another separate connection between the two cities," Malak told Khaleej Times in an interview.

Stage two will connect the railway to Mussafah, Khalifa and Jebel Ali ports and extend to the Saudi and Omani borders, he added.

"Stage two to link trains between Abu Dhabi and Dubai will be in place by 2017," he said.