Dubai to Abu Dhabi by train costs ₹1,023. The taxi at the far end costs more.

Etihad Rail started running passenger trains out of Dubai on 30 September. Five a day each way to Abu Dhabi, an hour and four minutes, from Dh39 in Comfort Class, which is about ₹1,023 at ₹26.2 to the dirham.

That is a good headline and it is also the smallest number in the journey. The train drops you at Mohamed bin Zayed City station, and a taxi from there to Louvre Abu Dhabi runs Dh60 to Dh75 on The National's figures, or ₹1,573 to ₹1,967. The ride at the far end costs more than the ride between the cities.

What actually opened

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan inaugurated the Dubai station on 28 September, and services began on the 30th. The Abu Dhabi to Fujairah stretch has been carrying passengers since 30 June, so Dubai is the piece that was missing, and it is the piece Indian travellers care about.

The Dubai end is Al Yalayis station, out in Me'aisem First beside Jumeirah Golf Estates. Nobody is going to stumble across it. There are three ways in: the Red Line to Jumeirah Golf Estates metro station and then a 400 metre elevated walkway, the RTA's F38 feeder bus, which Gulf News says starts at Dh3, or a car, with 265 parking spaces at Dh30 for a half day or a full day, the same price either way. Khaleej Times puts the station's hours at 5am to 11pm.

The timetable is five trains and no more. Out of Dubai at 6.14am, 7.14am, 1.14pm, 5.14pm and 6.14pm. Out of Abu Dhabi at 6.43am, 7.43am, 12.43pm, 4.43pm and 5.43pm. Read the morning block carefully, because there is a five hour hole in the middle of the day. Miss the 7.14 and your next train is after lunch.

The number that is missing from the fare

Mohamed bin Zayed City is an inland district. It is not the Corniche, not Saadiyat, not Yas. The National mapped the onward legs on 29 September, and these are the numbers to memorise before you book anything.

• Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque: 15 to 20 minutes, Dh30 to Dh40, so ₹787 to ₹1,049.
• Yas Island: 30 to 40 minutes, Dh50 to Dh70. The free Yas Express moves you between the parks once you are on the island.
• Saadiyat and Louvre Abu Dhabi: 30 to 40 minutes, Dh60 to Dh75.
• The Corniche: Dh55 to Dh70 by taxi, or Dh10 on an Etihad Rail shuttle that takes 45 minutes.

Those shuttles are cheap and badly advertised. Dh10, about ₹262, three times a day from the Abu Dhabi station at 7.39am, 1.04pm and 7.33pm, reaching ADNOC headquarters in roughly 45 minutes, ADNEC in 31 and Reem Mall in 55. You can only book one while buying your train ticket, and you need that ticket to board. Decide before you check out.

Price a real day for two going to the Louvre. Four Comfort tickets is Dh156. The taxi out to Saadiyat and back is Dh120 to Dh150 for the pair on The National's figures. That is Dh276 to Dh306, or ₹7,200 to ₹8,000, before you have paid to move between any two sights, and it buys you a day holding two and a half hours of train and well over an hour of cars.

Which makes the guided day worth a second look

What the train does not sell you is the forty minutes at either end. A coach with a guide already includes it.

Our Abu Dhabi City Tour is ₹2,215, and I would not have led with it a week ago. Now I would. It collects you in Dubai and returns you to Dubai, so there is no 6.14am alarm, no taxi queue at a suburban station, and no deciding whether the 4.43pm leaves you time at the mosque. Per head it undercuts train plus taxis for a couple. What it costs you is freedom: you see what the itinerary sees, in its order, and if you wanted four hours in the Louvre this is not it.

Take the train if you are going for one specific thing and you know exactly where it is. Go at 6.14am, come back at 5.43pm, and do not try to fit the mosque, Yas and Saadiyat into one day. You cannot, and the meter will make the attempt expensive.

Three things that will save you money

Buy online. Gulf News found on 30 September that a Comfort ticket costing Dh39 on the app or website was Dh60 at a station vending machine. A Dh21 penalty, around ₹550, for turning up and buying a ticket like a normal person.

Check the clock before you check out. Fares move by departure. The same Abu Dhabi to Dubai Comfort seat was Dh39 at 6.43am and Dh49 at 4.43pm in Gulf News's comparison. Saver, Value and Flex fares carry different rules on changes and refunds, so read which one you are buying if your plans are soft.

Baggage is better than you expect, and worth knowing if you are moving hotels. Two pieces free regardless of ticket type, for adults and children aged three and over, cabin items capped at 55cm by 40cm by 23cm, infants sharing an adult's allowance, extra bags booked in advance. If you are taking the metro to the station anyway, a Nol day pass is Dh22, or Dh42 for Gold.

Do not put this on the same day as a desert evening

The last train out of Abu Dhabi leaves at 5.43pm and reaches Dubai at 6.47pm, and Al Yalayis is then a walkway and a Red Line journey from wherever you are sleeping.

Which is why the Desert Safari at ₹3,930 is the one booking to keep off your Abu Dhabi day. Safaris start in the late afternoon and exist for the sunset and the dinner after it. You will be on a train while that happens. Book it for a day you are not leaving the emirate, and do not let a package seller tell you both fit. They do not.

Fujairah, and what is still unsettled

There is also one train a day each way between Dubai and Fujairah, leaving Dubai at 1.57pm for a 3.07pm arrival and returning at 11.54am for 1.04pm. One hour ten minutes to the east coast is a new thing to be able to do.

The fare is where the reporting disagrees. Khaleej Times listed Dubai to Fujairah at Dh29 in Comfort and Dh89 in Premium. The National put the Fujairah ticket at Dh39. One service a day each way also means a missed train is a missed day, so check the live price and time in the app rather than trusting either figure, mine included.

Two other things are open. The network is unfinished: Al Dhaid opened alongside Dubai on 30 September, Al Dhafra is slated for 30 December and Sharjah's University City for 30 March 2027. And no station on the passenger network serves either Dubai or Abu Dhabi airport, so this is not an airport transfer, whatever a booking site implies.

The separate high-speed project, announced in January 2025 under the UAE President's patronage, is the one promising Abu Dhabi to Dubai in 30 minutes. No opening date has been published. Today's trains top out at 200km/h and take 64 minutes. If you have seen the 30 minute headline, that is a different railway, and it does not exist yet.

The train fixed the hour between the two cities. It did nothing about the forty minutes at either end, and that is where your money goes.

Book it, but book it for what it is. A cheap, pleasant hour that starts and ends in the wrong place. Abu Dhabi still repays the night you spend there more than the day you commute into, and nothing that opened on 30 September changes that.

Fares, timings and station details come from Gulf News, Khaleej Times, The National and Business Today, published between 22 September and 1 October 2026, with onward taxi and shuttle costs from The National's 29 September guide and Gulf News's shuttle and baggage reports, all read on 2 October 2026. The high-speed announcement is the January 2025 one from the Abu Dhabi Media Office. Rupee figures use ₹26.2 to the dirham, the mid-market rate on 2 October. Rail fares are dynamic and taxi costs are estimates, so price yours on the day.