Rail link to replace number of heavy trucks

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Freight trains could soon replace heavy trucks throughout the GCC, if plans approved.

A new rail link has been proposed to run through all GCC member states, with the intention of reducing the number of tankers and general heavy trucks on the road.

A technical meeting in Doha has given the project the green light.

The network will begin from Kuwait and go to Muscat via Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE, skirting around the edge of Dubai.

Reports suggest that a study to connect it with Yemen also is underway. After presiding over the meeting of a technical committee studying the feasibility of the project, chief executive officer of the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) Ahmed Sultan al-Kuwari said they discussed the final report.

The ministers will submit their final recommendation to the forthcoming GCC Summit to be held in Muscat, for which no date has been set yet.

Al-Kuwari said the project was expected to be fully implemented by 2016.

It will also merge with the already existing rail link in Saudi Arabia.

The possibility of linking the GCC countries with Yemen through a railway network is also under serious consideration, al-Kuwari said.

The study is expected to be concluded in the first quarter of next year.

The meeting was attended by representatives from Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Oman and Qatar besides senior officials from the GCC secretariat. The project's chief consultant David Lupton also attended.

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