The Gulf cooperation council railway

The members of Gulf Co-operation Council - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Oman - are proposing to build a heavy railway line to link all six states. It is intended to run from Kuwait City to Muscat via Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with a loop via causeways through Bahrain and Qatar. This will present a formidable task in a region where there is little or no history of railways with the exception of Saudi Arabia and to a lesser extent the UAE. This will involve the co-ordination of standards across six states and integrating with the existing heavy rail system in Saudi Arabia and the proposed rail networks of the other five states. Heavy rail has advantages over road transport for long haul freight and passenger transportation in terms of operational efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions, and cost. However, these advantages have not been apparent for the GCC members - Saudi Arabia and Oman aside - because they do not kick-in for shorter distances involved in domestic transportation. Kuwait, Qatar, and UAE have a maximum internal journey of 250 km to 300 km with Bahrain considerably less. This gives a potential journey by road of up to five hours. It is only when considering transport between GCC member states as they become more closely economically integrated that the advantages of heavy rail become apparent. This paper aims to present an overview of the risks involved with this project from design to construction and operation. While the research will focus on the analysis and response to technical risks concerned with the challenging terrain, through-running, signalling, and communication, it will also outline the legal and commercial risks of ticketing, customs, tariffs and regulation and the political issues between member states.