The News
The long-awaited Gulf railway project is finally picking up steam.
Kuwait awarded a contract to build the first phase of its 111-kilometer (70-mile) section of the railway to a Turkish engineering firm. The project, set to be completed by 2030, will connect Kuwait to Saudi Arabia and, eventually, to a line linking Manama, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Muscat.
Projected to transport eight million passengers and 95 million tons of cargo annually by 2045, the 2,117-kilometer (1,300-mile) Gulf Cooperation Council network is seeing contracts awarded across most Gulf countries, according to AGBI.
One of the busiest routes — the Abu Dhabi-Dubai corridor — will feature a high-speed train capable of transporting passengers between the two cities in just 30 minutes at speeds of up to 350 kilometers (215 miles) per hour.
Senior UAE royals inspected a train cabin last week and unveiled designs for stations in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Fujairah, and Sharjah. The high-speed train is expected to contribute 145 billion dirhams ($39.5 billion) to the UAE’s economy over the next 50 years.