Qatar-Saudi railway link gets the greenlight: Qatar’s cabinet approved a draft agreement to set up a railway linking Qatar to the Kingdom through a modern train network spread across several regions in both countries, QNA reports. The high-speed railway line, expected to span some 550 km, is part of the GCC railway network — a broader USD 200 bn project slated for completion by December 2030.

Not the only link in the pipeline: Kuwait’s Central Agency for Public Tenders opened four bids for a 12-month design contract for a Kuwait-Saudi railway project in November. The 111 km railway will connect Kuwait City to the Saudi border and is part of the larger USD 200 bn GCC railway initiative.

REMEMBER- Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was mulling investments in a Gulf rail connection project — announcing they were engaged in talks with regional finance ministers back in February.

SOUNDS FAMILIAR? A feasibility and traffic study for a 2.1k km railway linking Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar was first completed back in 2023, with the project set to wrap up by December 2030. The initiative aims to link all Gulf states, enhance intra-regional trade, and improve movement.

A big trade push: The railway will be used to ship goods at first, with the expectation to transport over 95 mn tons of goods per annum by 2045. It will then be used to host passenger traffic at a later stage, aiming to transport 8 mn passengers annually.

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