Saudi authorities have revived plans for a Jeddah metro and started the bidding process for the Q-Express high-speed rail line in Riyadh linking the capital’s airport to the Qiddiya entertainment park — all part of a wider push across the region to get people and freight off the roads and onto the rails.
More passenger trains are being ordered to triple capacity on the mainline network linking Riyadh to cities in the north like Hail and Jouf, and cross-border lines are planned from Saudi Arabia to Kuwait and Qatar.
Dubai — the pioneer of urban rail in the region — continues to expand its metro network, and the first Etihad Rail passenger services linking the city with Abu Dhabi and Fujairah should start later this year.
Work is also continuing on the Hafeet Rail freight line from the UAE to Oman’s Sohar Port. Slowly but surely, the long-mooted Gulf-wide rail network is taking shape.