SAUDI Arabian Railways (SAR) has issued a tender for design consultancy services for the 672km Saudi section of the 2177km Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) network linking the six Gulf States.
The project includes concept design, preliminary design and Issued for Construction (IFC) design services and will require the selected contractor to review, update and complete existing preliminary designs. Participants in the tender have until June 30 to submit bids.
The Saudi portion of the network will run from Al-Khafji on the border with Kuwait via Dammam to Al-Batha on the border with the United Arab Emirates where the line with interchange with the existing Etihad Rail network and the UAE’s 684km section of the GCC network. Kuwait signed an engineering and consultancy services contract for its 111km section of the network with Turkish firm Proyapi Muhendislik in April 2025.
The network will be designed for 220km/h passenger and 80-120km/h freight trains.
Separately, Hafeet Rail, the joint UAE-Oman company delivering the new 303km line from Abu Dhabi to Sohar in Oman, has reported the start of tracklaying. The company says the project has now reached 50% completion.
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