GCC Railway Network Behind Schedule?

Last week the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council reaffirmed plans to have the initial phase of the GCC Railway Network in place by 2018 despite widespread doubts that this will be possible.

The GCC summit in Doha met to discuss a wide range of issues from regional security to trade and infrastructure. The proposed GCC Railway Network was one of the key topics. Despite a number of countries including Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain being a long way behind schedule, the summit still agreed that the target deadline for operation will be 2018.

Kuwait has only just started initial plans for their segment, while Bahrain is in very early stages of planning the King Hamad Causeway that will carry additional road traffic and a railway to the island kingdom. Meanwhile, though Qatar is in advanced stages of construction of its own railway network, some suggest that its link will not be ready until 2019 due to ‘minor delays’ admitted by the Qatari government.

Other countries are moving forward with plans, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE making serious progress and Oman due to begin construction sometime in 2015.