DUBAI: A new $3 billion railway is to link Oman`s Sohar port with Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, of ficials said on Wednesday.

The 303-kilometre (188 miles) railway, with passenger trains travelling up to 200 kilometres per hour, will join up with the UAE`s national network that is now under construction. The joint venture between Oman Rail and the UAE`s Etihad Rail was agreed during a visit by UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed to the Omani capital Muscat.

`The railway... promises huge strategic economic and social gains,` Abdulrahman Salim Al Hatmi, Group CEO of Oman Rail`s parent company Asyad, said in a statement issued by the Abu Dhabi government.-AFP