Saudi Arabia Qatar high-speed line to link Riyadh and Doha

Saudi Arabia Qatar high-speed line has moved a step closer: the two governments have formally agreed to develop a new high-speed railway linking Riyadh and Doha, as reported by International Railway Journal.

Saudi Arabia Qatar high-speed line: route and operations

Under the agreement, a high-speed electric railway between Riyadh and Doha will connect Riyadh’s King Salman International Airport with Doha’s Hamad International Airport, forming a direct cross-border corridor between the two Gulf states. The route will also include intermediate stations in the Saudi cities of Al-Hofuf and Dammam, adding further access points along the Riyadh Doha high-speed railway.

This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

According to information released by Saudi media, trains on the new line are planned to operate at speeds exceeding 300km/h. At this speed, the Riyadh to Doha high-speed train is expected to offer an end-to-end journey time of around two hours between the two airports once services begin.

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The agreement was signed in Riyadh by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, during the Qatari leader’s visit on December 8. It is presented as another step in improving relations between the two neighbours, following the 2017 decision by Saudi Arabia and its allies to cut diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar.

Jobs, timelines and regional high-speed projects

In a joint statement, Saudi Arabia and Qatar said they expect to complete the new railway within six years. The project is forecast to generate 30,000 direct and indirect jobs in both countries, and the line is expected to carry up to 10 million passengers per year once it becomes operational, according to coverage by Gulf News.

For Saudi Arabia, this will be the second high-speed line after the Jeddah – Mecca – Medina high-speed railway, which opened in 2018, and it will also be the first cross-border high-speed line in the region. In parallel, Qatar approved in October a plan to build a line from Doha to Abu Semra on the Saudi border, which will be the country’s first mainline railway and its section of the Gulf Railway, as previously covered by Railway Supply.

At the same time, the United Arab Emirates is developing a high-speed line between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Taken together, the Saudi Arabia Qatar high-speed line and these national projects underline the rapid development of high-speed rail corridors across this part of the Gulf.

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