Huawei works with SELEX Elsag for the construction of the new United Arab Emirates railway network

Mobilk - Huawei today announced its collaboration with SELEX Elsag, a company within the Finmeccanica group, for the construction of the first railway line in the United Arab Emirates, that will be completed by the end of 2014. Huawei, a leading global information and communication technology (ICT) solutions provider, has been selected by SELEX Elsag as the mobile networks (GSM-R), optical and IP supplier. This first section will be an essential part of the new UAE railway network that will be 1,200 km long by the end of 2017. It will connect urban and industrial areas of the United Arab Emirates and open new links with Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Huawei Enterprises wireless network will guarantee highly sophisticated mobile communications along a 266 km portion of the railway line. The new railway line will connect the entire oil-bearing area of Shah and will be the main means for transporting more than 7 million tons per year of granulated sulphur from Habshan to the port of Ruwais for export.

Etihad Rail Company, the master developer and operator of the UAEs national railway network, after a tender with the participation of more than twenty groups, recently awarded the project for the construction of the first railway line in the UAE to the Joint Venture composed of the Italian Saipem (part of the ENI group) and Maire Tecnimont, together with the Indian company Dodsal Engineering & Construction PTE Limited. Afterwards the Joint Venture selected Ansaldo STS (Finmeccanica Group) for the implementation of the whole technological component of the new line, both for the part that ensures the safety of railway traffic and for the portion concerning information provision to the public.