GCC States Sign Framework for Regional Railway

Gulf Cooperation Council states signed a general agreement in Manama on November 8, establishing a framework for a railway network intended to link all six members. The agreement was signed during a meeting of the GCC Ministerial Committee on Transport and Communications in Bahrain, with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi in attendance, according to a council statement.

The agreement is intended to organize railway transport across the member states and support a single, integrated network designed to connect them. Albudaiwi said it sets a common framework for countries to implement and operate the project in coordination with their national railway networks. It also establishes mechanisms and a timetable intended to accelerate completion, he said.

The planned railway is meant to be interoperable, facilitating transport between the six GCC states. The council described the agreement as a step toward greater integration in regional transport. The signing establishes a regulatory framework; it does not mean the network has been completed or is operating.

The ceremony took place alongside the transport...