DUBAI, 30 July 2004 — A railway system linking the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain could be in place within three years, a news report published here yesterday said. A European firm has come up with a plan for the proposed project, a highly placed GCC General Secretariat official was quoted as saying.
“The General Secretariat has requested the Islamic Bank for Development to undertake a feasibility study for the building of a railway system to transport passengers and goods among countries with the aim of promoting better trade relations among member countries,” said the official.
Some key railway routes are already being mapped out in the countries involved, he said. His comments followed news of the Saudi Railway General Establishment’s participation in the railway exhibition and conference on the design and management of general transport systems in the Middle East due to open in Dubai on Oct. 10.
Khalid Al Yahya, head of the Establishment, said: “The list of participants also includes the Syrian Railways, General Establishment of the Hijaz Railway in Syria, Hijaz Railway in Jordan, Alaqaba Railway Establishment, Ras Al Khaimah Municipality and the National Railway Commission in Egypt.
Among those expected to take part in the exhibition and the conference will be experts in general transport, manufacturers of buses, makers of rolling stocks and underground tubes, consultants in transport system, ticketing experts and traffic engineers, communications and railway maintenance technicians, designers and civil engineers in the field of general transport.
Al Yahya said: “The establishment has completed studies for expanding its internal railway network. There will be four railway systems which will be about 2,915 kilometers long.
“One of the new lines will run from west to east linking the Islamic port of Jeddah to King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam and King Fahd port in Jubail. The line will be around 950 kilometers long.”
He said the present railway system will be part of the new system. “The north-south line which will link Riyadh with the northern part of the country will be 1,408 kilometers long. There will be another 115-kilometer long line which will link Dammam with Jubail.
Another 570 kilometer long railway line planned to serve the western regions of the Kingdom will link the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madina.” He said the Saudi Higher Economic Council has endorsed a plan for implementation of the scheme.
The Establishment has signed an agreement with a consortium of foreign and Saudi banks and the French Railways for the provision of technical and financial consultation for the railway network expansion in the Kingdom, he added.
