Full steam ahead
The dawn of a golden age of rail travel in the Gulf
Through the course of modern history, railways have served as the lifeline of industry – moving goods, people and even ideas around the world. They have also played a critical role in entrenching transnational ties between emerging nation states.
From the Trans-Siberian route connecting Europe with China along 9,300 kilometres, brushing the Russian Arctic, to the great swaths of railway laid across India in the days of British Empire bringing western infrastructure to remote corners of Asia along a 40,000km network, tracks marked the pace at which nations could grow.
Without the seemingly endless train lines stretching across the vast expanse of the Australian outback, the nation’s rich mining yields of iron ore would not reach the coast for export to China. At 1,692.6km, it is the longest straight track in the world with trains up to 2.4km long carrying about 100 tonnes of iron ore, worth more than $1.4 million each. The network is critical to the Australian economy.
Since they first opened in 1825, railways have become central to human existence. The role they play in nation building, as well as extending global reach, cannot be overstated. Even with the speed of air transport, freight trains still serve as a key component of the global supply chain and remain one of the most fuel-efficient ways to transport goods.
For the past 200 years, railways have snaked across the world, connecting continents and cultures. Yet most of the Middle East remains largely underserved.
A little over two decades ago, the six countries that comprise the Gulf Co-operation Council sought to remedy this, drawing up plans to connect their neighbouring nations by rail.
The network was to begin in Kuwait City and travel along the Arabian Gulf coast through Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman, while more lines were to branch off through Saudi Arabia. Each country was also expected to establish internal rail networks, creating a fully connected GCC.
Delays followed initial enthusiasm as each country waited for the others to begin construction.
Individually, Saudi Arabia and the UAE worked on internal rail networks and expanded their services. The UAE is now poised to introduce passenger rail services and has announced plans to lay down more tracks by 2030. Saudi Arabia also intends to enlarge its domestic rail network.
As two of the six countries press ahead, could their developments drum up enough momentum to revisit the idea of a connected GCC-wide network again?
Hejaz railway
If brought to fruition, the GCC rail project would not be the first to have connected areas of the Middle East.
The often-forgotten Hejaz railway once ran from Damascus to Madinah, bisecting the Hejaz region of what is now Saudi Arabia.
It opened in 1908, but its time was short-lived and it closed in 1920 after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Created on the orders of Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, the Sublime Khan and Calif of Islam, the railway was ostensibly designed to transport Hajj pilgrims safely across the empire to the holy cities.
For the Sultan’s generals it had another purpose – moving troops south in large numbers and at speed to subdue any signs of Arab rebellion against the Sublime Porte. In the end, it failed on both counts.
Construction began at the turn of the 20th century, and by 1907 the line had reached AlUla in what is now Saudi Arabia, and just 300km from Madinah.
The enterprise was already fraught with problems. The cost, estimated by some sources at about 18 per cent of the empire’s annual budget, was to be met entirely by donations from the Muslim world, with no non-Islamic investment.
The first and largest Yarmouk Valley Bridge on the Hejaz Railway, in Syria, circa 1917. During the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule, T E Lawrence tried to destroy this bridge. Getty
The first and largest Yarmouk Valley Bridge on the Hejaz Railway, in Syria, circa 1917. During the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule, T E Lawrence tried to destroy this bridge. Getty
The terrain, across desert and mountains, was another challenge. The project’s German engineer, Heinrich Meissner, relied heavily on a workforce of Ottoman army conscripts, who were promised a third of their military service would be deducted to make up for the arduous conditions.
Everything, from water and food to coal for the engines and dynamite for blasting through the mountains, had to be shipped in. Another problem was the disappearance of wooden sleepers from the completed narrow-gauge track, apparently favoured by local Bedouin as fuel for their campfires.
Despite the difficulties, the railway reached Madinah on September 1, 1908, a distance of more than 1,000km from Damascus and a journey of 40 days cut to fewer than four.
But opposition to the project among Arabs was already growing, led by Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Makkah, who feared it would undermine his authority as protector of the holy cities.
Arab warriors would launch occasional attacks on the railway’s southern end, but lacked the weapons and organisation to do serious damage. At the same time, Ottoman forces could do little to stop them so far from home.
The balance of power changed with the First World War and the start of the Arab Revolt in 1916, led by Hussein and his sons Faisal and Abdullah.
An area of Al Hejaz railway photographed between 1900 and 1920. Photo: Library of Congress
An area of Al Hejaz railway photographed between 1900 and 1920. Photo: Library of Congress
With the Ottomans allied to Germany, Britain provided the Arabs with money and weapons, urged on by T E Lawrence, later immortalised as “Lawrence of Arabia”.
Troop trains were attacked and tracks blown up. Large sections of the railway were destroyed and the link to Madinah severed with the capture of the port of Aqaba in July 1917. Derailed engines from Lawrence’s raids can be seen rusting in the desert to this day.
At the end of the war a year later, and the defeat of the Ottomans, the region was controlled by the British and French and the dream of the Hejaz railway lay in ruins.
Yet it never quite died. A branch line of the Hejaz, 160km down the Jazreel Valley to Haifa, became part of the new Palestine Railways until Israel’s creation in 1948.
Other elements of the Hejaz grand project survive to this day. The Syrian terminus still stands in the centre of Damascus, as does Amman station in Jordan, although services between the two cities have been suspended for more than a decade.
Tourist trains also run on a scenic section of the original line now called the Jordan Hejaz Railway, from south Amman to Wadi Rum. Another freight route transports phosphates to the port at Aqaba.
In Israel, a passenger line opened in 2011, following much of the abandoned Jazreel Valley branch, while the most spectacular achievement actually fulfils the original dream, with Saudi Arabia opening a 453km high-speed line between Madinah and Makkah in 2018.
Saudi Arabia has also restored the stations at Madinah and Tabuk as museums, which include original rolling stock and a locomotive. In January, the kingdom announced plans to more than triple the size of its rail network by adding 8,000km of track on top of the 3,650km that already exist across three lines.
On paper, the only section of the Hejaz Railway that has not survived is the stretch between Aqaba and Madinah. The reality of joining all the dots to bring it back to life is far harder.
UAE
Since its launch in 2009, Etihad Rail has gradually crept across the Emirates.
From the outset, the plan was for the trains to transport goods and passengers, but the former was initially prioritised to boost trade, reduce shipping times and distribute resources across the country.
Stage 1 of the network, a freight service that links gasfields in Shah in the south to Ruwais on the west coast, has been operational since 2016. Each day, it carries up to 22,000 tonnes of granulated sulphur from Habshan and Shah to Ruwais for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
Expansions under Stage 2 of developments, including a passenger service linking 11 cities and areas across the country, are now under way with a line between Dubai and Abu Dhabi completed in March this year.
A journey on board Etihad Rail's inspection train in Saih Shuaib. Victor Besa / The National
A journey on board Etihad Rail's inspection train in Saih Shuaib. Victor Besa / The National
A 1,200km line connecting Ghuweifat on the Saudi border to Port Saqr in Fujairah on the east coast is also under construction as part of Stage 2. Last year, heavy machinery was used to mine tunnels though Fujairah’s Hajar Mountains, on the border with Oman, digging out 500,000 tonnes of rubble and rock. Boring through the complex mountainous terrain was necessary to connect the region’s deepest natural sea port, Khor Fakkan, with the eastern seaboard and the cities of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
And this is only the beginning.
By 2030, trains travelling at up to 200 kilometres an hour are expected to carry 36.5 million people and millions of tonnes of freight every year, taking thousands of cars and lorries off the UAE’s roads and reducing carbon emissions by 70 per cent to 80 per cent.
An annual saving of 2.2 million tonnes of carbon pumped into the choking atmosphere will be made by switching heavy goods from road to rail.
An Etihad Rail train in Saih Shuaib that will one day carry passengers between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Victor Besa / The National
An Etihad Rail train in Saih Shuaib that will one day carry passengers between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Victor Besa / The National
Passenger trains between Abu Dhabi and Dubai will take just 50 minutes, while a journey from the capital to Fujairah will last 100 minutes – about half of the time it takes to make the trip by car.
The Dh50bn ($13.6bn) spent on the project is expected to contribute about Dh200bn to the economy. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, described the railway programme as the “largest project to consolidate the strength of the union for the next 50 years”.
“Etihad Rail will radically change the way goods and people in the UAE move across the nation,” said Rashid Al Mulla, director of the technical co-ordination department at Etihad Rail.
“Businesses will save time and resources in their supply chain operations, enabling wider commercial expansion across the region.”
Tracks laid for Etihad Rail's passenger service between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in Saih Shuaib. Victor Besa / The National
Tracks laid for Etihad Rail's passenger service between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in Saih Shuaib. Victor Besa / The National
Although a completion date has not been announced, once fully operational the UAE National Rail will be about 1,200km in length – equal to the distance from London to Vienna – if the track was laid side by side in a single line.
It will connect rural areas to cities, improving connectivity and generating wider economic benefits for these areas, and link principal centres of trade, industry, manufacturing and production with all major import and export points in the country.
Universal track, gauges and tracking systems will eventually link all rail routes across the Gulf, with Etihad Rail forming an integral part of the GCC-wide network.
One day it could take just a few hours to travel from Dubai to Kuwait, stopping at Saudi, Qatar and Bahrain en route.
“We are building something here for generations to come,” said Ahmed Al Hashemi, executive director of the passengers sector at Etihad Rail.
“If you asked me years ago if there’d be a railway line crossing the country through this very same point, it would sound like a dream.
“But today it is a reality.”
Saudi Arabia
Modern Saudi Arabia’s rail ambitions predate the formation of the GCC by decades. The kingdom’s first tracks were laid in 1947, two years after the end of the Second World War, with its first freight line inaugurated in 1951.
Since then, plans for network expansion have only grown as the 13th-largest country in the world seeks to connect various parts of its vast lands and new developments.
Currently, the kingdom has about 5,000km of track that make up three main lines.
The Northern Train Network, formerly known as the North-South Line, is the largest of them and is split between freight and passenger lines. It comprises 2,800km of track, extending from the capital, Riyadh, to the border with Jordan in the north-westernmost part of the country. It also splinters off, connecting important phosphate and bauxite mines with key sea ports in Ras Al Khair and Jubail on the west coast. If laid out across Europe, the Northern Train Network would run from Madrid to Copenhagen.
Last month, the fifth and final passenger stop on the Northern Train Network, Al Qurayyat station, near the Jordanian border, opened to the public. In about 12 hours, passengers can travel 1,215km from Saudi Arabia’s northern region to its capital city.
Plans for the line were born in 2006 with the establishment of Saudi Railways Organisation (now Saudi Arabia Railways) by the Public Investment Fund. Trains carrying mined minerals set off for the first time on the Northern Train network in 2011, and passenger trips followed by 2017.
Since then, the line has been central to Saudi Arabia’s economy and the rail project has contributed “in one way or another” to achieving essential objectives that support the Vision 2030 economic plan, a SAR official told The National.
It has also helped reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions as well as improve traffic safety by taking cars and lorries off the kingdom’s roads.
“This is at the current level, while in the future, there is no doubt that the inauguration of Al Qurayyat railway station will help reach the maximum operational capacity of the line, in addition to providing car freight service for the first time,” the official said.
Along the west coast, the Haramain High-Speed Rail connects the country’s two holy sites of Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah and with stops at King Abdulaziz International Airport and King Abdullah Economic City. Trains on the 450km electric rail line travel at a speed of 300kph and were inaugurated in 2018. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was expected to carry 60 million passengers a year, including three to four million Hajj and Umrah pilgrims, to alleviate congestion on roads in the three cities.
The third and oldest railway line in the kingdom, East Train network, previously known as the Dammam-Riyadh line, has a total length of about 1,775km and is split into passenger and cargo services, with four stations. Its establishment was ordered by King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia, in the 1940s to serve as a vital line connecting the eastern part of the country with the capital. He inaugurated the line in 1951.
Metro trains parked at a station in Riyadh. Photo: Fayez Nureldine / AFP
Metro trains parked at a station in Riyadh. Photo: Fayez Nureldine / AFP
Today, it transports more than 2,500 freight cars that carry cement, grains, cars and rocks across the country. Its total capacity for handling goods between the two cities is about 48,250 tonnes – the equivalent of more than three Leaning Towers of Pisa. It also serves as a key passenger line for commuters.
This year, work is being carried out to expand freight operations and improve efficiency at Al Riyadh Dry Port to handle 1.5 million containers annually by 2030 – a doubling of the current quantities processed by the port.
Plans for expansion across the rest of the country are also under way to boost trade and increase interconnectivity, all while reducing carbon emissions.
In January, the country’s investment minister, Khalid Al Falih, told a forum that Saudi Arabia planned to more than triple the size of its rail network by adding another 8,000km of track. If laid straight, this would be the approximate distance between London and Beijing.
The new rail “will criss-cross the kingdom and add to the network we already have”, he told a mining forum in Riyadh.
When complete, it will be one of the largest railway undertakings in recent history. The intention of Saudi Arabia’s rail project is to connect the country’s diverse population of 30 million, improve connectivity for trade and modernise the kingdom.
With its history of previous networks, Saudi Arabia understands their value as a cornerstone of its Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the oil-rich country’s economy. The lines will transport freight and carry what the kingdom believes to be its number one investment: its people.
Construction on the Saudi Landbridge project, aimed at connecting the Red Sea in the west to the Arabian Gulf in the east, is also under way. This will involve constructing 950km of line, mainly for freight, from Jeddah Islamic Port to Riyadh and a second line from Dammam to Jubail.
For its part, Saudi Arabia is expected to lay 663km of internal track to connect with the wider GCC network.
Remaining GCC nations
Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar
While Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leading the way with network expansions, the remaining Gulf countries have yet to begin planning their rail services in earnest.
Some experts are optimistic that advances elsewhere in the region could lead to a boost in progress, but others believe it could be another decade before GCC-wide tracks are laid down.
“There needs to be a determination in the GCC to activate what they have already decided to do,” Youssef Khalifeh, Middle East regional director for Deutsche Bahn, an engineering and consulting company heavily involved in the maintenance and operation of Etihad Rail, told The National.
“Oman and Kuwait have nothing complete, there is no connection with Qatar yet and Bahrain is still talking about it.
“Big discussions are under way between Qatar and Saudi Arabia to connect it to the GCC rail network.
“This project still needs another five to 10 years.”
Mama Sougoufara, regional manager of Alstom, a multinational rail manufacturing company, was more optimistic, saying passenger rail had an exciting future in the Gulf.
“I have no doubt it will be a success for both freight and passenger movement," he said.
“As people around the world become more environmentally conscious, including here in the GCC, you will see a stronger demand on lower emissions transport.”
The UAE has committed to a carbon-neutral path, and aims to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
A short round-trip economy flight from Dubai to Riyadh equates to about 0.4 tonnes of carbon emissions, almost a quarter of personal emissions targets.
“Providing a rail solution will significantly decrease that amount, even without using green energy,” Mr Sougoufara said.
“To incentivise people, governments and the industry need to ensure that public transport is available, affordable, convenient, attractive and more efficient than personal cars or planes, where appropriate.
“Unlike countries with established networks, the GCC has the opportunity to build new networks with the latest technology from the start.”
Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman are each in different phases of their rail transport projects, with some choosing to focus on internal metro services instead.
Both Oman and Kuwait in 2008 announced initial plans to launch a national railway.
Oman
In 2020, Oman said it would revive its national rail project – seven years after it floated a tender for train network construction to cover most of the country,
The rail service is part of the Oman National Spatial Strategy, a plan that seeks to develop urban areas under the Oman 2040 Economic Vision.
“The monitoring and evaluation (of the railway project) will be carried out in different stages, according to the pace of economic and population growth in the various governorates,” read the ONSS report, which was made available to The National.
According to the report, the rail network would cater to growing populations in cities and help accelerate their economies. Specifically, the network would aim to serve Muscat, Sohar, Buraimi and Salalah – Oman’s four largest cities – which are home to a third of the country’s population.
Last year, the government announced plans to initiate a separate metro project in Muscat to link industrial areas and transport goods between them, relieving the intercity roads of congestion.
As of July 2021, plans were being drawn up for a rail network to connect Seeb in Muscat to Sohar. The line would feed directly into the metro system.
Preparations for a 207km line between Buraimi and Sohar are also under way. This will act as the first segment of Oman’s national rail network. Authorities have already begun plans to compensate citizens affected by construction in Buraimi governorate.
Oman has not released details of how much construction of the rail or metro network will cost and officials approached by The National declined to comment on the project’s implementation.
The plan proposed in 2014 was projected to be 700km long and stretch 120km across the country, linking all industrial cities including Duqm in the centre, Mazyouna in the south, as well as Muscat, Buraimi, Sohar and Salalah, with about 50 stations in total.
Under the initial Gulf Railways project, Oman was expected to have 306km of track, connecting Muscat with the UAE border and a secondary line linking the capital with Salalah in the south via Duqm.
Kuwait
Like its neighbouring Gulf nations, Kuwait had planned to build an internal metro network that would be linked to the GCC-wide railway project.
Initially announced in 2009, the 160km network, split over four lines, was estimated to cost $20 billion and help solve the country’s increasing traffic congestion while also boosting interconnectivity.
After a feasibility study, the execution stage was scheduled to begin by 2010 for completion by 2016, but was delayed for technical reasons and other unknown causes, and in 2015 was put on hold.
In January 2020, the Public Authority for Roads and Transport presented a five-phase construction plan that included 68 stations and connected Kuwait City with the country’s international airport, the main university, and residential and industrial areas.
About 30 per cent of the railway’s first phase was intended to run underground with two underground stations and a maintenance warehouse.
In October 2021, when the project had still not progressed, the country’s Cabinet urged local authorities to remove any hurdles blocking its commencement.
As of January 2022, local press reported that new feasibility studies were needed before the project could go ahead.
Under the Gulf Railway plan, Kuwait was expected to contain 145km of the system.
Qatar
Although Qatar has yet to begin construction on a rail network, the country does have two metro services: Doha Metro, connecting the capital to the suburbs, and Lusail Tram, an internal network that will serve the nation’s Future City, just north of the capital.
Doha Metro opened in 2019 and has three lines. The 40km Red Line runs from Al Wakra in the south to Lusail in the north via Hamad International Airport. It passes through the city centre with 18 stations including a stop at Qatar University.
Its Green Line runs east to west with 11 stations, and stops at Education City, Hamad Hospital and Qatar National Library, while the Gold Line includes more touristy sites such as Sports City, Souq Waqif and the National Museum of Qatar.
The tram at Lusail City in the country’s north is still under construction but will eventually serve the city’s many developments and Formula 1 track. Plans for the slow-moving intra-city train are geared towards sustainability and the ability to connect urban centres to commercial developments and vital institutions such as schools and medical centres. The 18km tram is expected to link up to the Doha Metro as well, enabling passengers to head into the capital with 25 stations including 10 that are underground. Plans for the tram are going “as scheduled”, according to Qatar Rail.
As for the country’s part in regional rail plans, on February, Qatar’s minister of transport, Jassim Al Sulaiti, said construction of the GCC Railway connecting Qatar to Saudi Arabia would begin soon. According to local media reports, he said all necessary groundwork to begin work on the grand project was complete and offers of sponsorship and construction tenders would be issued within the year.
When complete, Qatar will contain 283km of the 2,177km Gulf Railway network.
Bahrain
A video announcing an integrated sustainable solution for Bahrain's increasingly congested roads was uploaded to the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications’ YouTube channel three years ago, but little was known of the project's progress until October last year, when the kingdom approved the first phase of a 109km metro network, which will cost the nation $2bn to build.
The government is expected to begin issuing tenders to allow companies to bid on the project this year.
“This project marks an important milestone as it will provide a fast, comfortable, reliable, sustainable and modern transportation system in the kingdom of Bahrain, thereby improving the standards of living,” said Kamal Mohammed, Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications.
According to a blueprint presented by the ministry in December, the metro rail will be built in four phases.
With pod-shaped stations, a design similar to those of Dubai Metro, the first phase is expected to stretch across 29km, intersected by 20 stop-off points.
The project will connect the newly developed international airport to Reef District, cutting through Airport Avenue and the King Faisal Highway. Another line will connect Juffair to the Educational area in Isa Town through King Faisal Highway passing by the Diplomatic area and Bab Al Bahrain.
Passengers will be able to transfer between the two lines in Bab Al Bahrain and Al Farooq Junction stations.
The system has been designed to carry 43,000 passengers every hour as the government tries to provide a modern and sustainable alternative mode of transport to reduce the current traffic congestion in the kingdom.
Although various reasons have caused the projects in the remaining GCC nations to move at different paces, the vision is the same: one network to connect the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Doha, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain while reducing congestion, carbon emissions and creating an efficient transport system using state-of-the-art technology.
Tracks laid down as part of Etihad Rail's expansion project in Saih Shuaib. Victor Besa / The National
Tracks laid down as part of Etihad Rail's expansion project in Saih Shuaib. Victor Besa / The National
A stop along the Hejaz railway. Getty
A stop along the Hejaz railway. Getty
TE Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, gained international renown for his role as a British liaison officer during the Arab Revolt of 1916 to 1918. Getty
TE Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, gained international renown for his role as a British liaison officer during the Arab Revolt of 1916 to 1918. Getty
Maan Station along the Hejaz Railway line. Photo: Library of Congress
Maan Station along the Hejaz Railway line. Photo: Library of Congress
A man pushes his bike over an old unused track belonging to the Hejaz Railway in Mafraq, Jordan. Photo: Salah Malkawi
A man pushes his bike over an old unused track belonging to the Hejaz Railway in Mafraq, Jordan. Photo: Salah Malkawi
Dubai Metro in Downtown, pictured in April 2020. Chris Whiteoak / The National
Dubai Metro in Downtown, pictured in April 2020. Chris Whiteoak / The National
An Etihad Rail train parked in Saih Shuaib. Victor Besa / The National
An Etihad Rail train parked in Saih Shuaib. Victor Besa / The National
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The Haramain speed train stops at the King Abdullah Economic City station. Stephen Kalin / Reuters
The Haramain speed train stops at the King Abdullah Economic City station. Stephen Kalin / Reuters
The Haramain high speed train stops at Jeddah airport station. Giuseppe Cacace / AFP
The Haramain high speed train stops at Jeddah airport station. Giuseppe Cacace / AFP
The fast train to Dammam at a platform in Riyadh railway station. Getty
The fast train to Dammam at a platform in Riyadh railway station. Getty
Rendering of the planned Bahrain metro. Photo: IDOM
Rendering of the planned Bahrain metro. Photo: IDOM
A rendering of Bahrain's planned metro stations. Photo: IDOM
A rendering of Bahrain's planned metro stations. Photo: IDOM
A rendering of a Oman Rail train station. Photo: Oman's Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technology
A rendering of a Oman Rail train station. Photo: Oman's Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technology
Words Nick Webster, Nada Al Taher, Saleh Al Shaibany, James Langton and Mariam Nihal
Editor Juman Jarallah
Design Nick Donaldson
Graphics Roy Cooper
Picture Editor Olive Obina and Leslie Pableo
Sub Editor Nigel Walsh
Additional reporting by John Dennehy and Patrick Ryan
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