The Saudi Railways Company and the Saudi General Transportation Authority disclosed that they have appointed the French company, Systra to conduct the feasibility study for a high-speed railway link between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, reports Al-Qabas daily. According to the MEED magazine this appointment comes after a series of other initiatives aimed at linking Saudi Arabia with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, as part of the Gulf railway network. Last July, Systra was selected to conduct a feasibility study on the proposed high-speed railway linking Riyadh to Doha.

The line between Riyadh and Doha could be about 550 kilometers long and could use maglev technology. MEED reported that plans for the Gulf railway network are progressing in Kuwait, after the Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport fl oated a public tender for the study and detailed design work for the first phase of the planned railway network in the country, and set the deadline for submission of tender documents May 30. The value of the tender for the first phase of the project is one million dinars ($3.25 million). The proposed single-track line will be used by both passenger and freight trains.

It extends over a distance of 111 kilometers from the southern border of Kuwait with Saudi Arabia (Nuwaiseeb point) to the urban area of Shaddadiyah. The scope of consultancy services is divided into three phases, and includes study, critical review and updating of conceptual designs for the Kuwait Railway Project, and completion of detailed engineering design, studies and technical documents required for bid submission. This includes the passenger terminal and cargo yard, as well as the border facility with Saudi Arabia. It also includes all documents required for the purchase of rolling stock, providing estimates of construction cost, operating and maintenance costs, industry readiness and technical risks. Kuwait is the northern terminus of the GCC railways, and its 111 km section represents approximately five percent of the total GCC network.

In 2008, the Gulf States, through the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council, conducted a feasibility study for Gulf Railways to develop a railway network across the Gulf States. But planned railway projects were halted in Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates due to the global financial crisis of 2009, the Arab uprisings of 2011, and the collapse of oil prices in 2014. Rail plans in the Gulf states have been derailed by factors including a lack of common standards, low oil prices, and a failure to create attractive public-private business partnership models. The most important stumbling block was the lack of political will. Even before the Gulf crisis, the cooperation required to deliver a large multinational project was missing. The Al-Ula declaration, signed in January 2021 by all six GCC countries and Egypt, put the GCC railway project back on track.

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