UAE rail steps up amid air chaos
The UAE’s rail network ran passenger return trips and helped move hundreds when regional air travel was disrupted, positioning rail as a resilient alternative during cross‑border flight chaos ( ).
On March 3, 2026 Etihad Rail operated three exceptional passenger trains that carried more than 350 Emirati citizens and UAE residents from the Al Ghuwaifat border to Al Faya in Abu Dhabi. (railway.supply) Etihad Rail said the moves were coordinated with Abu Dhabi’s Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Centre as precautionary mobility measures after regional airspace disruptions that reduced commercial flight capacity. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) The runs used the Al Ghuwaifat–Al Faya corridor on Etihad Rail’s national network, a corridor that is part of the operator’s planned 900 km system linking Ghuwaifat to Fujairah. (rail-asia.com) Etihad Rail described the services as “exceptional” and outside the regular passenger timetable, signalling a rapid operational pivot from its established freight role to temporary passenger movements. (railway.supply) Etihad Rail’s freight business already operates at scale—transporting more than 5.24 million tonnes of granulated sulphur in an 18‑month period and with capacity projections around 7 million tonnes annually—providing locomotives, rolling stock and an operational control centre that supported the special passenger runs. (gulftime.ae) Those three trains formed part of a wider UAE repatriation effort that authorities say moved about 6,000 citizens and companions using a mix of air, land corridors and the national rail service during the disruption. (digitaldubai.ai)
