The safety certificate was signed by the UAE's minister of public works and FTA chairman HE Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi in the presence Etihad Rail chairman HE Nasser Ahmed Alsowaidi at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.

The railway is operated and maintained by a joint venture of Etihad Rail and German Rail (DB), and has a fleet of seven locomotives and 240 hopper wagons. Each train will carry around 11,000 tonnes of granualted sulphur and Etihad Rail is aiming to carry more than seven million tonnes of sulphur per year from Shah and Habshan to the port of Ruwais. Over the last year around three million tonnes of sulphur have been transported during trial operations on the new railway on behalf of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

Safety certification has been managed by a team from the FTA with support from Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi and Dubai Roads and Transport Authority.