Etihad Rail runs first emergency passenger services, moving 350 people from Saudi border to Abu Dhabi

With commercial flights largely grounded, UAE authorities tapped the still-to-launch national rail network on 4 March 2026 to bring home 350 citizens and residents who had been marooned in Saudi Arabia. Three special Etihad Rail passenger trains operated between Al Ghuwaifat, on the Saudi frontier, and Al Faya station just outside the capital, under the direct supervision of the Abu Dhabi Emergencies, Crises and Disasters Management Centre. Footage released by the Abu Dhabi Government Media Office showed travellers—many of them businesspeople who had driven across the border hoping to fly from Riyadh or Jeddah—being greeted with flowers on arrival. Etihad Rail’s chief projects officer said further ad-hoc services will be scheduled “as required” until normal air connectivity resumes, demonstrating both the technical readiness of the 900-km federal network and its potential as a contingency tool for future crises. For global-mobility managers the operation is a case study in multimodal evacuation planning. Organisations with staff in the Gulf are being advised to map rail links and over-land routes as backups to aviation, and to brief travellers on land-border formalities—including Saudi transit visa rules—should they need to use the corridor in reverse.



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The trains also offered a live test of passenger-handling protocols months ahead of the network’s public launch. Officials confirmed that immigration checks were completed on-board before arrival, hinting at a future “pre-clearance” model that could shorten journey times on scheduled services between Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Fujairah.