Qatar has accepted plans for its first cross-border practice line, placing the Gulf state firmly on observe to hitch the GCC-wide Gulf Railway community — an formidable $100 billion challenge designed to unite all six Gulf states by rail.
Introduced after a cupboard assembly chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, the brand new 100km route is slated to launch by 2030 and can join on to Saudi Arabia’s deliberate Dammam to Ghuwaifat hall through the southwestern border city of Abu Samra.
As soon as full, the road will give Qatar – which already has a citywide metro system in Doha – a direct overland connection to the broader Gulf area for the primary time, linking its capital to a community that stretches from Kuwait within the north to Oman within the south.
The challenge marks a pivotal step within the long-planned GCC Railway, a 2,000-kilometre cross-border system designed to hold passengers and freight between all six Gulf states at speeds of as much as 220 km/h.
Underneath Qatar’s Nationwide Transport Plan 2050, the principle line will join with a home rail community that features a passenger observe from a future worldwide terminal in Doha to Hamad Worldwide Airport, and a freight extension working to Hamad Port and the commercial metropolis of Mesaieed.
The Gulf Railway itself has gained renewed momentum following years of delay. The UAE’s Etihad Rail has already accomplished its freight community and is ready to launch passenger operations by 2026, promising journey occasions of lower than an hour between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Oman and the UAE are additionally advancing the 303-kilometre Hafeet Rail challenge between Sohar and Abu Dhabi — the primary worldwide phase of the community to interrupt floor, whereas Kuwait has signed a design contract for its 111-kilometre part connecting to Saudi Arabia.
In Saudi Arabia, the biggest stretch of the regional community will type a vital spine, linking current home traces from Dammam to Riyadh and on to the Purple Coastline. When full, passengers will have the ability to journey seamlessly throughout the Arabian Peninsula by rail, from Kuwait Metropolis and Doha to Abu Dhabi, Muscat and past.
For now, Qatar’s 100-kilometre route remains to be within the planning part, however its approval indicators that the Gulf’s long-discussed dream of region-wide rail journey is lastly leaving the station.
