Rail in the GCC
Contractors are being shortlisted for the construction of a $15.5bn rail network which will run from Kuwait to Oman and Yemen. We assess the opportunities it will bring for big business, backpackers and commuters.
January 20, 2010 4:18 by kippreport
Rail authorities will decide later this year on whether to upgrade the GCC railway to a high-speed network, which would make it possible to travel between Kuwait and Oman in a little over six hours. Under the current proposal, trains with a maximum speed of 200kph would operate on the network. But introducing 350kph trains is also under discussion. According to a recent report in The National, the faster trains would see project cost rise from $15.5 billion to an estimated $25 billion.
Malcolm Cope, rail works design manager for the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway Management, says that high-speed rail is “a preferred transport mode for the 20th Century”, adding that it is the “fastest growing transport mode in the world today”. He said that trains have hit 500kph in recent tests in France, while the maximum operational speed is 350kph.
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