TALKS started last month between a group of 20 private companies and the Bahrain government regarding a build, operate, transfer (BOT) scheme to build a 90km, 350km/h railway from the Bahrain capital Manamah to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, which is the terminal of the existing line from Riyadh.
TALKS started last month between a group of 20 private companies and the Bahrain government regarding a build, operate, transfer (BOT) scheme to build a 90km, 350km/h railway from the Bahrain capital Manamah to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, which is the terminal of the existing line from Riyadh.
The objective is to open the line in 2017 which would require construction to start in 2012-14.
A 40km bridge paralleling the existing road causeway connection between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia would be the centrepiece of the project. Land acquisition and civil works are estimated to cost $US 3.1bn and trains a further $US 1.8bn.
The project would eventually form part of the Gulf Cooperation Council's plan to build a railway from Kuwait via Dammam, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates to Oman.
