GCC rail link could cost $16bn

GCC countries are expected to invest nearly $16 billion in a railway project to link the six member countries. A feasibility study on the project will be completed in the first quarter of 2014, after which the project will be launched, according to a GCC official.
Around $4.5 billion will be invested in the construction of another causeway for the rail between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain while $11.5 billion could be spent on the building of the rail link between Saudi Arabia and the four other GCC members, said Ramiz Al-Assar, World Bank adviser at the Riyadh-based GCC Secretariat.
Al-Assar said the GCC countries are still in the initial stage of preparing “detailed designs” for the project. But he added that the UAE and Saudi Arabia have already constructed 200 km of railroad as part of the inter-GCC rail project.
“The feasibility study for this project will be fully completed in the first quarter of next year ... afterward, we expect the authorities in each country to take the necessary decision about the project.”