Oman is considering a change in strategy around rail, to focus on a domestic system instead of connecting to the planned GCC rail network.

The shift has been prompted by uncertainty over when the regional rail project will go ahead, the sultanate’s Transport Minister Mohammed al-Futaisi said, according to a report by UK news agency Reuters.

The report confirms earlier suggestions made by sources familiar with the tendering process for the Oman Rail’s first segment, which links Sohar to Buraimi, that Oman may now prioritise the Sohar-Muscat rail line due to the suspension of phase 2 of the UAE’s Etihad Rail.

Etihad Rail’s second phase was planned to connect to Saudi Arabia and Oman via a line extending to Al-Ain, which would then link with Oman Rail through the planned Buraimi station.

The GCC Secretariat and Saudi Railways Company have yet to release an official statement on how the GCC railway project might proceed, following the cancellation of the second phase of the Etihad Rail.

Al-Futaisi told media in Oman on 14 February that “the suspension of Etihad Rail’s plan made it difficult for Oman to award a contract for its own track even though Muscat was ahead of other countries in designing its part of the network”.

The transport minister added that the sultanate will now refocus its rail infrastructure from distributing imported goods around the region via the GCC rail network to facilitating Oman’s seaborne exports focusing on raw materials.

The plan to connect the country’s ports through a domestic rail network will stay, including using the railway network to transport goods between the mining sites, added Al-Futaisi.