In 2009, when the leaders of the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council approved the construction of a railway that would run through the bay, the envisioned opening year was 2018. More than a decade has passed, and the drawings have undergone several revisions, with funding and political coordination repeatedly torn apart. However, this steel artery has always been stuck on paper. Until recently, Kuwait, located at the northernmost end of the line, was the first to award the design contract, which was undertaken by Türkiye Engineering Consulting Company, with the amount of about 8.1 million dollars; The longest route within Saudi Arabia has finally begun to send out bids one by one.

I waited for seventeen years

The Gulf Railway has a total length of over 2186 kilometers, starting from Kuwait, passing through Dammam, Saudi Arabia, connecting Bahrain through a planned cross sea passage, extending from Dammam to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and finally reaching Muscat through Suhar, Oman. The mileage within each member country is 684 kilometers in the United Arab Emirates, 672 kilometers in Saudi Arabia, 306 kilometers in Oman, 283 kilometers in Qatar, 145 kilometers in Kuwait, and 36 kilometers in Bahrain. The project has been delayed several times, and the 2017 diplomatic crisis has caused the overall shutdown. After the signing of the Euler Declaration by the six countries in January 2021, the regional coordination mechanism has warmed up, and the willingness of governments to invest in infrastructure has significantly increased. The head of the GCC Railway Bureau revealed in the first half of this year that the overall completion rate of the project has reached about 50%, and the goal is to put the entire line into operation by December 2030. The expected annual passenger volume is 6 million and the freight volume is about 200 million tons.

A job that only reviews without drawing

The winning bidder of the tender issued by Saudi Railways does not engage in hands-on design work, but manages, audits, and verifies the results of another independent design consulting firm. The bidding requires the winning bidder to prepare a design management and review plan, clarify the governance structure, cross disciplinary coordination mechanism, and phased approval nodes, and issue formal review and audit reports in accordance with Saudi Railways' requirements and international standards. At the same time, the winning bidder is responsible for stakeholder communication, interface management, and supervising the land acquisition plan work of the design consultant. The critical design phase is expected to take about 16 months, including 4 months for conceptual design, 6 months for preliminary design, and 6 months for construction drawing design, with a 4-week buffer period reserved for each stage. The deadline for bidding is October 18th. The owner also requires the core team to be stationed in their office from the start of the project, including the project director, engineering design manager, stakeholder manager, and document management manager. The minimum experience required for each position ranges from 3 to 25 years, with the project director having 25 years of work experience, including 15 years in the railway industry.keywords:Engineering infrastructure

The next step for Chinese enterprises

The Saudi section of the route starts from Khafji in the eastern province and ends at Bata, which borders the United Arab Emirates, with a total length of about 672 kilometers. It is divided into four sections of about 141 kilometers, 200 kilometers, 151 kilometers, and 21 kilometers, respectively connecting to Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. The line adopts a single track, non electrified scheme, mixed passenger and freight transportation, with a maximum axle load of 32.4 tons, and the station is designed to achieve two-way traffic; The designed speed for passenger trains is 220 kilometers per hour, while for freight trains it ranges from 80 to 120 kilometers per hour. The parallel design consulting bidding has received five bidding documents in July, with four participating in the form of a consortium. The leading parties are from the UK, Germany, France, and Spain, and the other French company is bidding separately without any presence of Chinese enterprises. However, the track has just opened: after the design is approved, the construction will be separately contracted through competitive bidding. China Railway International, CRRC, China Power Construction and other companies have left achievements on the Etihad Railway in the United Arab Emirates and the Hafit Railway in Oman. Saudi Arabia has also stated that Chinese companies have always been an indispensable part of its railway development. For Chinese enterprises with desert construction and full chain delivery capabilities, the real opportunity lies in the later construction and equipment sections.Editor/Yang Meiling