Saudi Arabia Approves Gulf Cooperation Council Countries' $25 Billion Regional Rail Link

---

Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In addition to developing an integrated power grid, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are involved in major transport development and regional integration. Recently, a $25 billion rail project was approved by Saudi Arabia. The project will link Bahrain and the other GCC countries--Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia--in a 2,117-kilometer network in which trains will run at speeds of up to 350 kilometers per hour.

The starting terminal for the rail link will be in Kuwait, and it then will pass by the eastern Saudi city of Dammam and connect to Bahrain by a bridge that runs parallel to King Fahad Causeway. It then will run on to Qatar via Salwa, with another line connecting Saudi Arabia with the UAE through Bathaa, according to the Gulf Daily News.

The rail link also will run through Abu Dhabi to Al Aim, and then reach Oman through Sahar and Muscat, and connect Qatar and Bahrain through a bridge.

The cost of land acquisition for the project is estimated to be $3.1 billion, and locomotive purchases have a budget of $1.8 billion. Work on the project will start this year, following completion of the engineering studies. The project is scheduled for completion by 2017.

The GCC is estimated to have $142 billion of road and bridge projects under way or in the planning stages. The Kuwait Financial Center reports that between 2011 and 2020, the countries will spend $97 billion on new road and rail projects (including the new rail link), with $79 billion of the total going to rail and associated projects.

Almost 100% of roads in the GCC are paved compared to the average in other emerging countries of 75%. The aggregate length of roads available in the GCC is 291,313 kilometers, of which 75% are in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Ministry of Transport will be giving guidelines and processes for the design, construction and management of bridge structures for future tender opportunities in Saudi Arabia at the 2nd Annual Bridges Saudi Arabia summit, March 18-21 in Riyadh. For related information, see January 25, 2012, article - Spanish Consortium to Build $8.2 Billion Saudi High-Speed Rail Link.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.