The $100BN Railway in the Desert

one of the world's most ambitious construction projects is being built right here in the middle of a desert six of the middle east's wealthiest countries have come together to construct a railway that will stretch for more than 2 000 kilometers and better connect the region but with desert sands to cross and mountains to tunnel through the project's challenges are immense and matched only by the price tag that comes with tackling them if it works the new lion could unite the gulf reshape its transportation sector reduce its carbon footprint and kickstart a whole new era of economic development welcome to the 100 billion dollar railway in the desert before we get into how the railway is built it's important to understand why it's being built in the first place let's start here february 1981 in riyadh saudi arabia leaders from saudi arabia kuwait the united arab emirates qatar bahrain and oman met to form a political and economic alliance called the gulf cooperation council or gcc as a group they've made a lot of money off oil and gas and that means their economies are largely tied to the oil market now around 2008 2009 oil prices plummeted amid the great recession and the gcc economies took a hit that's where the railway comes in diversifying the economies of the gulf states away from oil and gas will help them develop stronger economies and the railway lines will help for example will connect the nation's ports with manufacturing hubs it will connect nation's ports with urban centers in 2009 the gcc approved a massive railway project that would link all six member states the cost would be divided among the countries with the entire project estimated to be between 100 and 250 billion us dollars the most expensive elements being saudi arabia's metro project and etihad railway an 11 billion dollar 1200 kilometer freight and passenger railway that stretches across the emirates from the gulf of oman to the persian gulf the country's first national rail network is being constructed in two stages the first was completed in 2016 and spans 264 kilometers from the habshan and shah areas in abu dhabi to the port of rhuis in the popular perception the arab gulf states are flat desert countries and to some extent that is certainly the case but in the northern parts of the emirates and northern parts of oman they have rugged mountains that reach 5000 meters in elevation parts of this railway system have been just as challenging as building a railway system in the rocky mountains of the us it's a tough working environment to say the least it can get so hot in the summer that some construction sites operate at night when temperatures are closer to a cool 30 degrees celsius that's around 86 fahrenheit sand makes for difficult shifting terrain etihad learned from others who'd built in the desert including china saudi arabia and mauritania those nations found solutions like turning sand dunes to clay over many years monitoring the shifting dunes and planting walls of vegetation to block wind and sand etihad rail's locomotive design includes a sand filtration system and a sand plow to help it navigate the desert in stage 1 etie had rail constructed 20 over bridges two underbridges 10 road underpasses and 18 smaller underpasses for future use the company also built two factories to produce concrete railway sleepers made from locally sourced raw materials which form the base of the tracks each sleeper is 2.6 meters long and weighs 340 kilograms they're attached to the main rails with a fastening system and are used to help stabilize the track and ensure the train can travel smoothly at speeds of up to 200 kilometers an hour for passenger services but this first route isn't transporting passengers just yet instead it's carrying up to 22 000 tons of granulated sulfur across 110 wagons each day the element is extracted from the oil fields in abu dhabi and processed for export at the port of rewise where it goes on to be used in manufacturing everything from batteries to fertilizers and even fireworks etihad rails transported more than 30 million tons of granulated sulfur for the abu dhabi national oil company as of mid-2021 they say that a single train journey reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 70 to 80 percent compared to if those trips were made by trucks that's pretty significant for an economy with one of the biggest carbon footprints in the world [Music] the efficiencies also helped make the emirates the world's top exporter of sulfur bringing in 679 million dollars in 2019 much of that sulfur likely went to china the world's largest importer who also happens to be involved in stage two of the project stage two construction began in 2020 and will extend the network 605 kilometers from guayfat on the border with saudi arabia to vajira on the east coast a 408 million us dollar contract put china state construction engineering corporation and south korea's sk engineering and construction in charge of the design and building of 139 kilometers of rail line once complete the network will link the country's major industrial ports and trading centers enabling more than 50 million tons of goods to be transported each year a country like saudi arabia and countries like the united arab emirates they are huge in area and they contain immense potential for other natural resources that could and would be developed in the next few decades and the railway would help these governments tap these so far untapped natural resources even with progress being made on the etihad rail network the gcc rail project as a whole hasn't always gone according to plan they briefly blocked qatar from the organization putting its role in the railway project into question and the pandemic and oil prices have caused logistical delays and cuts to infrastructure spending which have pushed the completion date back by years the vision of golf leaders has emerged from being a vision of ambition and sometimes unrealistic ambition to a vision of pragmatism etihad hasn't said exactly when the railway will be open for commuters yet but when it is it might be a tough sell for a country that loves its cars one 2020 survey in the uae found that 83 percent of people depend on cars while only 13 percent use public transport it's primarily an economic value at this point and the human side is not fully developed yet and if there's a question around this project it will be about the willingness of the population to jump on the railway line and to go from city to city still the railway is a huge part of these countries plans to become more sustainable and diversify their economies and it's given rise to a new industry which means new jobs both saudi arabia and the emirates have developed rail studies training programs the gulf economies have grown exponentially over the last three decades or so and the railway lines are more of a complement to the immense economic growth that the gulf states have experienced over the last little bit the emirates may be known for its oil wealth and glitzy futuristic developments that eddie had railway is a glimpse into leaders long-term strategy to build a more connected unified gulf cultural shifts take time technological shifts can happen more or less overnight [Music] if you enjoyed this video and you want to get more from the definitive video channel for construction subscribe to the b1m [Music] you

Channel: The B1M

Views: 4,916,543

Keywords: B1M, TheB1M, Construction, architecture, engineering, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, infrastructure, railway, rail, etihad rail, gulf cooperation council, gcc, gulf, middle east, oil, sulphur, freight, passenger train, dubai, riyadh, saudi arabia, abu dhabi, high speed rail, china, UAE, Dubai Expo, United Arab Emirates

Id: oNsn3ds2op8

Length: 9min 17sec (557 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 07 2021