Post by Inzamam Rashid

The UAE’s national rail service has landed. And given the months of uncertainty in the country, its timing couldn’t be more perfect. “The biggest value that we can give is to give you back your time,” says Etihad Rail’s Adhraa Almansoori. For Monocle, I was given an early look at the new passenger service and spoke to the team behind one of the UAE’s most ambitious infrastructure projects. The trains are impressive and the vision is clear: faster journeys, more comfortable travel and a different way of moving across the Emirates. But there’s also a bigger question. Will people in one of the world’s most car-dependent countries actually leave their cars behind? And can the railway reshape how people live, commute and travel, or will it simply become another transport option? Read my latest piece on the UAE’s biggest transport project in decades here: https://lnkd.in/d5fyUtKB