Etihad RailFujairah Package 2D

Engineering challenge

Package D takes the national freight railway through the Hajar Mountains towards Fujairah and Khorfakkan, with a dense sequence of cuttings, tunnels, bridges and steep natural slopes. Ground risk is structural and topographic: discontinuity-controlled rock behaviour, high faces beside the alignment, and limited safe access for conventional mapping.

Analysis and design approach

DFEC developed the ground and slope understanding required for design and construction decisions: geological reconnaissance, rock-mass characterisation, photogrammetric mapping where access was constrained, and stability assessment of cuttings and natural slopes affecting the corridor. Analysis was used to distinguish mechanisms that required engineered stabilisation from those that could be managed by geometry, drainage or observation.

Recommended measures

• Rock-slope and cutting assessment along critical mountain sections
• Structural mapping to identify kinematic controls on stability
• Stabilisation advice (reinforcement, surface protection, drainage) for the designer/contractor to execute
• Construction-stage review of geological conditions as excavation progressed

Outcome

The assignment provided a defensible geotechnical basis for slope and cutting decisions on a nationally significant rail corridor, with DFEC remaining in a consultancy role throughout.