GCC rail target completion pushed back

03 October 2016

Decision to be reviewed again before end of 2016

GCC member states have agreed to push back the deadline for the completion of the region-wide GCC rail network by three years, according to a local media report citing Abdullah Belhaif al-Nuaimi, UAE minister for infrastructure development.

The original target completion date was 2018.

Al-Nuaimi said the decision was taken at a GCC transport ministers’ meeting earlier this year. “In principle we agreed on 2021…. Whether we can achieve it or not will depend on the internal plan of each country,” he said.

The new target date, however, has not been disclosed until Al-Nuaimi made the recent statement. He added that the agreed target completion date will likely be discussed again in another ministerial meeting before the end of the year.

Consultants, contractors and project owners across the region have been waiting for an official announcement from the GCC Secretariat and the transport ministers in terms of a new timeline for the 2,137-kilometre rail network that will link the GCC states to facilitate trade and passenger movement.

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Rail suspended the tender for the second phase of its mainline rail network and reduced its workforce by 30 per cent in January. In May, Oman announced suspending or delaying awarding the contract for the first segment of its national rail project. Oman Rail’s decision was seen as a result of the cancellation of Etihad Rail’s phase 2.

The original scope of the second segment of the Etihad Rail involves building rail lines in Abu Dhabi emirate between Ghuweifat and Ruwais, a line to Jebel Ali in Dubai and a link to Al-Ain, where it would link up with the Omani railway.

Segment 1 of the Omani railway was to run 207km between Sohar Port and Buraimi on the sultanate’s border with the UAE.

Saudi Railway Company (SAR) has said in June it was in the process of completing the study for the Saudi part of the rail. Kuwait is awaiting final approval from the government on its national railway project, while Qatar Rail has postponed releasing the tender for its long-distance passenger rail to 2017.

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