A US-based team of Aecom with Parsons International has won the project management consultancy (PMC) for the first phase of the $11bn federal railway project. The client is Etihad Rail Company, formerly Union Railways Company.

The initial project management consultancy contract that was awarded to Parsons-Systra in November 2010 was cancelled in January (MEED 17:1:11).

Aecom-Parsons will now be project manager for the first phase of the railway, which runs from the port of Ruwais to the gas fields in Habshan and Shah in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region. This is known as stage zero. The joint venture will also be project manager for the next stages of development, which are stage one, the rail network in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and stage two, which will see the rail network extend to the Northern Emirates.

Aecom-Parsons will also be involved in the supervision of the entire first phase of development, including testing and commissioning, as well as a defect liability period once the project is complete. Part of the role is to supervise the preliminary engineering work and contracts for stages one and two.

The UK’s Atkins will carry out preliminary engineering work for the entire UAE railway after the contract awarded to Parsons Brinckerhoff for stages one and two was cancelled in January.

Earlier in April, Aecom-Parsons also won the project management consultancy contract for the Lusail light-railway transit system in Doha. The two companies signed a five-year contract with Qatar Railways Development Company (QRDC) on 6 April.