Kuwait has announced a KD3.11 billion ($11.4 billion) plan to build a national rail network and a metro system.

According to Saeed Dashti, chairman of the Kuwait Overland Transport Union, the KD1.8 billion ($6.6 billion) national railway system will be 518 km long and will link the proposed 2,000-km, $5.7 billion Gulf railway line with Iraq, Iran and beyond, was given the go-ahead in 2004.
The project, to be implemented by the private sector, will link the Saudi border in the south with the Iraqi border in the north, besides connecting the east and west points in the emirate, he said.
The KD1.3 billion, Kuwait Rapid Transit System, will be 171 km long and cover the emirate’s main residential areas, said Dashti, whose union was given the job of drawing up the plans for the two projects.
About 65 per cent of the metro line will be above ground on an elevated track while the remaining 35 per cent will be underground, he said.
Dashti said that all necessary approvals had been obtained from relevant ministries and that the two projects were now awaiting the green light from cabinet.
Final approvals for the project are expected to be granted by May and tenders could be invited later in the year.
If that timetable is maintained, the two projects would be completed after eight years.