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Single rail network to link Kuwait & Oman by 2017
Gulf nations are working towards linking their different rail projects into a single network, so as to serve both freight and passengers.
An ambitious GCC rail network, linking Kuwait and Muscat could get operational by 2017, it has been announced.
Tracks stretching more than 2000kms would run from Kuwait City through Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, ending in Oman. Further, each country can build extensions and spurs to serve transit and industrial centres.
The project Manager of GCC Railway Feasibility Study, David Lupton, in his final decision, said that the project will begin in 2011. This will be followed by two years of detailed engineering design and four years of construction, with the final network getting operational by 2017.
The GCC Secretariat is working on development of next phase, which involves establishment of railway Company and authority and undertaking detailed design, David Lupton said.
The spine of the railway would run for about 670km in the UAE, although the total length of the track in the UAE would total more than 1300km.
The GCC project will cost more than US$10bn. Due to high initial budget, the government will be required to finance a portion of the construction, Lupton said. However, there is much potential for private sector investment and for public-private partnership, Lupton said.
The internal return of the project would be 3 percent, and that will need public financing, but, this is usual practice for railways. However, the passenger and freight businesses will have positive operating cash flows, and there could be a concessionaire.
A Technical Committee, comprising Systra, the French rail firm, Khatib and Alami, the Lebanese engineering firm, and CanRail of Canada, has estimated that about four million passengers could make use of the service during first year of operation.
This level of use will generate revenue of US$240m per year, which may increase to US$600mn a year by 2045, says Lupton.
The Committee suggests that the service should operate five passenger trains per day between Dubai and Kuwait, and eight additional trains would run between Bahrain and Qatar to Muscat.
Other unresolved issues are whether the line will have one line or double-track to make it considerably easier to run passenger services.
Some alignments are still being worked out, while Oman still hopes to extend rail lines from Muscat south to the border with Yemen, linking industrial centres and ports on the way.
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