Etihad Rail

So an example of that was a villa in Sanctuary Falls.

This is in Jumeirah Golf Estates, which you need to take a look at Jumeirah Golf Estates because that's where the station that plugs into Etihad Rail is positioned.

So that whole area definitely will go up.

Well, one there recently rented for 2.4 million, which is a huge sum for one of those villas.

So it's a credible alternative.

And now with Etihad Rail basically linking up, or eventually linking up Oman with Saudi Arabia, and obviously us here in between, commuting is, is no longer, you know, a pain in the neck.

You get on board a train and sort of one hour later you'll, you'll be in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

So it just broadens the whole horizon.

And obviously the past year or so, that's been particularly prevalent.

Then you combine that with connections to Etihad Rail and an airport expansion that targets 25 million passengers by 2027.

All of a sudden, Sharjah's connectivity pitch is stronger than ever.

They're also leveraging cutting-edge tech to streamline the whole process, right? Invest in Sharjah just launched a new AI platform called Najm, which helps foreign investors identify land plots for industrial and logistics use within seconds.

Now, you can have breakfast in Khor Fakkan, lunch in Sharjah or Dubai and dinner in Abu Dhabi.

The connectivity between the UAE today as well with Etihad Rail going over from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah in less than four hours makes you as well connected very closely to these seven economies that are very knit together and actually that's where the complementation comes in the strength of the UAE.

Meanwhile, MR founder Mohamed Alaba was also on stage.

And anyone who follows Mohamed Alaba knows that when he speaks, he is box office.

If you've been listening for a while, you know how I talk about metrification.

Follow rail, follow the infrastructure, especially around real estate, and my point here is Etihad Rail is finally running between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

And from that property point of view, what changes now? Well, I think initially it's less about prices and more about where people are prepared to live, and then it's just gonna roll from there, Mario.

Yeah, because look, until now, Etihad Rail was something we just talked about as future infrastructure, but now we've actually got a train, an actual timetable, and an Abu Dhabi station sitting in Mohammed bin Zayed City, which is already an established residential area.

And so now someone traveling regularly between Abu Dhabi and Dubai can actually ask, "Well, how far is the property from the station?" Rather than simply, "How far is it from Dubai?"

Dubai?"And I think initially it will be a rental activity and viewings around Mohammed Bin Zayed City, especially if more tenants, Mario, start specifically looking close to the station.

It, it'll take a little while longer before sales prices actually catch up.

But as more and more stations open through to March next year, areas that I guess previously felt too far away could now become closer without actually moving an inch.

That caught my eye.

But a couple of other things I really liked, one is Etihad Rail.

So it's a new project.

It's gonna connect 900 kilometers of the Emirates with a low emissions trains.

But a couple of other things I really liked.

One is Etihad Rail.

So it's a new project.

It's going to connect 900 kilometres of the Emirates with low emissions trains.

... and, uh, in, in the form of, you know, um, m- more metro lines.

Obviously we've, we've now got the Etihad Rail finally up and running and, and traveling.

Uh, this, this is just another one of those stories that, you know, is making, uh, the fluidity of, um, of, of people moving around from, from emirate to emirate.

Mm.

And whilst it's, it's interesting that they've gone back to the road network rather than maybe enhancing other things, but I guess they've already done that, so more metro lines.

The Etihad Rail is already linking up Saudi with, uh, with, with Oman, uh, eventually.

It's another piece of the jigsaw-

Correct

It's not, infrastructure is not following the population.

So you, you look at your Etihad Rail, you look at all the metros.

By 2032 Dubai, every part of Dubai will be connected.

So basically the infrastructure is shaping where the people will come and live.