THE railway equipment market in the Middle East has a current average volume of Euros 1.6bn and will grow at an average rate of 13% per year to reach Euros 3bn in 2015, according to a new study by SCI Verkehr, Germany.

The study omits civil engineering costs, focussing solely on infrastructure, systems, and rolling stock. SCI Verkehr notes that the Middle East is diverse in terms of railway development, with wealthy and poor, central and remote, and active and inactive market players in close proximity to one another. Despite the rapidly-accelerating investment in the Gulf region, Iran remains the leading railway market with annual growth of 3%.

The study suggests that new infrastructure and rolling stock dominate not only growth but also the overall size of the market, unlike the situation in most other parts of the world. SCI Verkehr has identified two waves of investment. The first is now coming to an end but will still cause the existing market to double in size by the middle of the decade. The second wave is expected to begin in 2016, coinciding with the construction of much of the Gulf States Railway, and will generate substantial investment by 2022, when the networks in Qatar and Bahrain will be largely complete for the Soccer World Cup.