Oman Rail Company (Oman Rail) is still reviewing offers submitted by consultancy firms in December last year for a study to build a 653km railway that will link the mineral rich region of Oman’s Dhofar governorate to Duqm Port.

Close to 25 companies are understood to have expressed an interest in the package. Those who submitted an offer include:

• Aecom (US)
• Atkins (UK)
• Italferr / Italian Railway State Company Group (Italy)
• Parsons (US)

The Asian Infrasructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is providing $36m funding for the study.  Oman Global Logistics Group, parent company of Oman Rail, will provide the remaining $24m required for the study.

The loan with AIIB is to have a single repayment at the end of the loan term in 2023.

The study is expected to be completed by end 2018.

The scope of the study includes:

• railway system design and procurement
• institutional development for sector readiness
• baseline surveys (land, socio-economic and environment)
• legal services for preparation of contracts
• project management

Following the cancellation of the tender for the second stage of UAE’s Etihad Rail, which was originally designed to include a link to Al-Ain, Oman dropped its plan to award contracts for the first segment of its national railway scheme. The first segment was supposed to run 207km from Sohar Port to Buraimi on the sultanate’s border with the UAE, comprising a major link for the planned GCC railway.

Oman has said last year it will prioritise building a mineral railway, which will carry heavy freight from three locations in Oman’s Dhofar governorate to a central location, which will then link to a separate rail line that runs to Duqm Port, from where the mineral cargoes will be exported to international markets.

In 2013, Italferr won the $37m contract for the preliminary design for the Oman National Railway scheme.