A new tender for managing and reviewing the designs comes ahead of the construction phase; 672 kilometers inside the Kingdom will connect the Saudi network to a Gulf route extending for about 2,186 kilometers

Riyadh | BETH

Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) has moved the Gulf Railway project one step closer to implementation after launching a tender to appoint a consultant to manage and review the design works for the route inside the Kingdom, in preparation for issuing construction contracts once the designs are approved.

The tender covers the management, auditing and review of the engineering outputs prepared by the separate design consultant, rather than carrying out the design itself. SAR has set October 18 as the deadline for bid submissions, while construction works will be tendered separately at a later stage after the designs are completed and approved.

The Saudi section of the project extends for about 672 kilometers, beginning from Al-Khafji near the Kuwaiti border and ending at Al-Batha on the border with the United Arab Emirates. It will connect with Gulf railway networks and form part of a regional system linking the six GCC states.

The Saudi route includes connections toward Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain, distributed across several sections, making the project one of the largest cross-border rail connectivity projects in the region.

From Design to Implementation

What is new in the current step is not the revival of the Gulf railway concept, but the transition from general planning to refining and verifying the execution designs before construction begins.

SAR had already launched a separate design-services tender last May covering the updating and completion of preliminary designs and advancing them to the stage of designs approved for construction. The company has now added an independent layer of engineering management and review.

This means the project is entering a more serious contracting phase, as separating design, review and construction helps reduce the risk of changes during implementation and strengthens technical verification before construction contracts are awarded.

More Than a Passenger Line

The importance of the Gulf Railway goes beyond transporting passengers between GCC countries.

The project will create a connected land corridor for freight movement, strengthen links between ports and industrial and logistics zones, and provide Gulf trade with an additional alternative to road transport and maritime shipping.

For Saudi Arabia in particular, the route adds a new dimension to SAR’s network: transforming the national railway system from an internal network into part of an integrated Gulf transport corridor.

This also complements the Kingdom’s expansion of domestic rail connectivity projects, including the project to link the northern and eastern networks through Riyadh via a new 35-kilometer double-track line, which has also reached advanced stages of the implementation tender process this year.

The Analysis

If the project is completed as planned, the result will not simply be a “Gulf train.”

It will be a more integrated regional transport market among GCC states, reducing travel time and transport costs, expanding freight and passenger options, and connecting national railway networks for the first time through a continuous regional corridor.

The latest Saudi step suggests that the project is now moving from the old question:

Will the Gulf Railway be built?

To a more practical one:

When will construction begin?