To this day, Kuwait remains to be one of the few countries that do not employ a railway system to support the country’s need for public transportation.
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And while buses and taxis can get you anywhere in the city, plans to build a GCC-railway with terminals in Shuwaikh and Shuaiba have been in the pipeline for quite some time now. And according to a report by local newspaper Al Anba, preliminary work has already begun on the 111-kilometre railway project to connect Kuwait with the rest of the Arabian Gulf region, as shared in a report by Arabian Business.
Construction Soon to Begin on Kuwait Railway Project
The newspaper source further disclosed that the first phase of the project will establish a new rail connection to Nuwaiseb on the border of Saudi Arabia and a 153-km link from Kuwait City and Boubyan Port.
According to senior government officials, the initial phase of the project will roughly cost $3 billion.
Furthermore, Kuwait’s Public Authority for Roads and Transportation (PART) is planning to appoint a technical consultant to oversee the progress of Phase 1 set to take place in the following months before the end of 2018.
The first phase of the project would cost approximately $3 billion (900 million KD) based on 2016 prices whereas construction is expected to take four to five years.
While 70 per cent of the projected revenue is expected to come from freight services, the first phase will also offer passenger services from the capital of Kuwait to Dammam in Saudi Arabia, which is expected to operate at up to 225 hm/hr along the Kuwaiti section of the network.
The vision for the project is to create a 575 km-long network, with a link to Iraq and Iran lines servicing the ports of Shuwaikh and Shuaiba.
The 2,100-km passenger and freight railway network encompassing all six Gulf States from Kuwait to Oman had faced several technical and administrative issues, and had been stalled as state funds became limited due to low oil prices in recent years.