ETIHAD Rail has awarded a Dirhams 3.3bn ($US 980.9m) contract to a consortium of Italian firms Saipem and Tecnimont, and UAE-based Dodsal Engineering and Construction, for civil and track work on the first 266km phase of the country's 1200km network that will link Habshan and Ruwais by 2013, and Shah and Habshan by 2014.