Muscat: The eagerly awaited and prestigious Suhar-Abu Dhabi international railway line will enter the implementation stage this year, which was revealed recently by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MoTCIT) media briefing.
According to the agreement between Oman Rail and Etihad Rail, a joint venture, Oman and Etihad Rail Company (OERC), will lay the groundwork for the project, including its financial mechanisms, design, development and operations.
The 303-km railway will link Suhar to Abu Dhabi with passenger trains designed to reduce travel time to 1 hour 40 minutes. Travel time between Suhar and Al Ain will be reduced to 47 minutes, travelling at a maximum speed of 200 km/h.
The freight trains will run up to 120 km/h.
OERC and Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala) have signed a cooperation agreement for the project, which will have a total investment value of $3 billion.
The cooperation agreement includes the formation of working groups and a joint committee to benefit from common capabilities and knowledge, and joint work to develop an economic and financial feasibility study.
The trains will have a capacity to ferry 12,000 passengers per day and 250,000 containers at the start of the line's operation.
OERC also invited bidders to pre-qualify for a tender to build stations, freight facilities, and a rolling stock maintenance depot, which followed tenders to pre-qualify for the civil works Tetraturk International Engineering and Consultancy Company has been awarded the infrastructure design contract.
As per the deal, Tetraturk will design road projects, track works, road and railway line drainage work, hydrology and flow assessment reports, scour analysis on bridges and culverts, and tender documents.
The railway project took off during the visit of UAE President Shaikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan’s visit to the Sultanate of Oman in September 2022.
The wider GCC railway network will be operational by December 2030, which is the target date agreed by the Committee of GCC Ministers of Transport and Communications last year.
The GCC Railway Network has regained its momentum with Saudi Arabia completing 200 kilometres of the track laying within its territory.
Several steps have been achieved in the project so far, including the completion of several studies, estimates on the number of passengers and goods, and the establishment of the Gulf Railways Authority.
Work is underway to complete the implementation of the project, the cost of which was estimated by the economic study at around $15 billion, in member states to train the nationals to operate the project and to cooperate with international organisations with expertise in railways.
The decision to establish a railway project linking the member countries was approved by the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to facilitate the movement of goods, citizens, and residents within the region, which will also boost the economies.
The planned railway would begin at Kuwait City, pass through Dammam and Al Batha Port in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Al Ain in the UAE, and then enter Oman through Suhar before terminating at Muscat. From Dammam, branches will link to Bahrain through the proposed King Hamad Causeway, and to Qatar via Salwa port. The proposed Qatar–Bahrain Causeway between Bahrain and Qatar will provide additional connectivity.
The total length of the track is estimated at 2,117 km, according to the website of the GCC, and the speed of passenger trains is scheduled to be approximately 220 km per hour, and freight trains between 80 to 120 km per hour.
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