Railway boom for the Middle East
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The MENA region is witnessing a spate of rail investment. From Africa’s first high-speed rail network in Morocco to Oman’s first ever rail scheme. This segment is witnessing investment from billions of dollars in rail and metro projects. There are in total more than US$200bn worth of rail and metro projects either planned or under way in the region.
“The Middle East is perhaps the fastest growing market for rail and transit in the world,” says Cosema Crawford, senior vice president and rail and transit global practice leader at Louis Berger. “Cities are growing and mobility is increasing, driving the need for robust public transportation networks.”
High-speed rail is being seen in the Middle East as an innovation. Confidence is now growing in its capacity to reach new levels of performance and speed.
Crawford says that demand for high-speed rail solutions will increase for more than one reason. “High-speed rail popularity will grow as a better and significantly greener alternative to air and car travel,” she says.
The GCC’s first high-speed railway is the 450km Haramain High Speed Rail project that links Jeddah with Rabigh, Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. It is scheduled to open in 2015 and will break the mould for the Middle East. Also due to open is the Morocco’s TGV network from Tangiers to Casablanca.
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