The UAE has launched a new freight rail service connecting Fujairah, its main maritime gateway outside the Strait of Hormuz, with Abu Dhabi’s industrial city, adding another route for goods to bypass the disrupted waterway. Three times a week, Etihad Rail will move containers about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the port on the UAE’s Gulf of Oman coast to Abu Dhabi, where they can clear customs. Fujairah has become a crucial entry point since Iran began attacking ships in the strait early in its conflict with the US.
Saudi Arabia is also adding rolling stock. Its state railway has ordered 780 railcars from US manufacturer Greenbrier, including tank cars for phosphoric acid and molten sulfur. The freight push dovetails with Gulf governments’ longer-running ambition to link the peninsula’s cities by passenger rail, a plan the war has made more urgent.