Saudi Arabia has begun the procurement process to deliver its portion of the GCC railway, which will connect all six member states.

Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) issued a tender for design consultancy services for the project on 7 May, with a bid submission deadline of 30 June.

It includes the concept design, preliminary design and Issued for Construction (IFC) design stages of the network.

SAR requires the selected consultant to review, update and complete the existing preliminary design of the network.

The kingdom’s section of the railway will start at Al-Khafji in the Eastern Province, near the border with Kuwait, and end at Al-Batha, at Saudi Arabia’s border with the UAE. The route length in Saudi Arabia will be about 672 kilometres (km).

The railway will interface with the Kuwait National Rail Road (KNRR) project on the Kuwaiti side. Last year, MEED exclusively reported that the KNRR design contract was awarded to Türkiye’s Proyapi Muhendislik ve Musavirlik Anonim Sirketi.

The KNRR forms part of the wider GCC rail network. GCC railway projects have been progressing with renewed impetus since the six member states signed the Al-Ula Declaration in January 2021.

In October last year, the Qatari cabinet approved a draft agreement paving the way for a railway link between Qatar and Saudi Arabia as part of the GCC railway network.

GCC railway line

Under the overall plan, the railway will span 2,186 kilometres, beginning in Kuwait, passing through Dammam in Saudi Arabia, reaching Bahrain via a planned causeway, and continuing from Dammam to Qatar, the UAE and, ultimately, Muscat via Sohar in Oman.

The network’s route length within each member state is as follows: 684km in the UAE, 672km in Saudi Arabia, 306km in Oman, 283km in Qatar, 145km in Kuwait and 36km in Bahrain.

The railway is designed for passenger trains travelling at 220 kilometres an hour (km/h) and freight trains operating at 80-120km/h.

With high levels of project activity, governments in spending mode and renewed cooperation under the Al-Ula Declaration, the latest efforts to restart the GCC railway project may make more progress than previous attempts. If completed, the railway could prove transformational for a region that is globally connected but divided between its constituent parts.

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