<The President General of the General Organization for Railways, Eng. Mohammed Al-Suwaiket, revealed to “Riyadh” that the final study to link the Kingdom and Bahrain with a high-speed train line is in its final stages and will be ready for implementation soon through a bridge parallel to the current King Fahd Bridge, which was recently named by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz after his brother, His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain. He said that the route of the line, which will be almost parallel to King Fahd Causeway from the north and has a length of about 25 kilometers, has been finalized, and the bridge will be the beginning of the implementation of the largest railway project linking Bahrain and the Kingdom, and will be part of the railway project that will link the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to each other. He stressed that the Corporation has launched the detailed designs of the GCC railway project in a competition and the financial bids have been opened and we are currently working on finalizing the award procedures for the part located inside Saudi Arabia, where the project includes the construction of railways through infrastructure, stations, supporting services and all operational details.

Suwaiket stressed that some of the railway projects will be part of the railway project that will link the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to each other.

<p Some Gulf countries, including the Kingdom and the UAE, have already started implementing the parts that fall within their territories for the passage of the GCC train, as the Kingdom has already started implementing the parts through which the railway will pass, and the UAE has also started and reached advanced stages in implementing the part that falls within its borders, pointing out that the project is proceeding as planned without major obstacles.

Sweikat explained that the project is proceeding as planned with no major obstacles. Al-Sweikat explained that the length of the GCC train project is about 2170 kilometers, starting from the State of Kuwait, passing through Saudi Arabia (Dammam), Qatar (Doha), Bahrain, the UAE (Abu Dhabi and Al Ain), to the Authority of Oman (Sohar and then Muscat), where the part that falls within Saudi territory is 663 kilometers and we are working on the final touches to award the project to the company with the best design.

We are working on the final touches to award the project to the company with the best design. He pointed out that the train that will link the Gulf countries will be operated in 2018 according to the agreement between the GCC countries and the operation of the train will be limited to the operation of cargo flights first and then passenger flights, as the line that will be built was taken into account to be able to operate passenger and cargo flights at the same time, expecting that the railway line between the GCC countries will contribute to raising and developing trade exchange between the Gulf countries, and the project will contribute to providing direct job opportunities for the youth of the GCC countries.

The railway line between the GCC countries is expected to contribute to raising and developing trade exchange between the Gulf countries, in addition to providing direct job opportunities for the youth of the Gulf Council countries.