Germany's state-owned railway company Deutsche Bahn announced plans on March 28 to plan, build and operate "ultra-modern" rail systems in the United Arab Emirates.
The company said German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer, Bahn CEO Ruediger Grube and the chairman of industrial conglomerate Al-Masaood Group, Abdullah al-Masaood, signed a memorandum of understanding in Abu Dhabi.
"Germany will do everything in its power to support the United Arab Emirates in setting up an ultra-modern, high-capacity rail infrastructure," Ramsauer was quoted as saying in a statement from Deutsche Bahn.
No financial details were released but a company spokesman said the deal could be worth more than 10 billion euros.
The company said multi-billion-euro rail systems were planned for the region in the coming years including regional transport lines, a metro, tram services and the long-distance Union Railway linking Abu Dhabi with the southern emirates.
The deal comes four months after Deutsche Bahn signed a 17-billion-euro (US$23billion) contract to build high-speed railway lines and underground transport networks in Qatar and Bahrain.
The company said at the time that it hoped to win more contracts in the Middle East on the back of the Gulf projects.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
