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Thanks to Alex Adams of Muscat Daily for the latest update on the Sultanates railway plan in today's Business section.
Pertinent facts of the railway line are:
- It will be 1000 KM long with sub-lines branching to feed various towns (eg Nizwa)
- It will be a dual line (one each way)
- Passenger trains will reach speeds of 200 KM/h
- Freight trains will reach speeds of 120 KM/h
- It will be a fully electrified line, allowing for upgrading in the future should it be required
- Expected passengers per day between Muscat and Batinah region to be 3000; between Muscat and Salalah, 1000 people per day.
- Expected freight to be exported to UAE each day around 11mn tonnes, and imported around 2.5mn tonnes.
- The tender for Construction is expected to be floated in Q4 of 2012 or Q1 of 2013, with completion slated for 2017
Anyway it's exciting stuff, if you're sad like me and like trains.
le fin.
More on the Oman Railway plan
Reviewed by Sythe
on
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Rating:
Reviewed by Sythe
on
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Rating:
lots of co-ordination within the GCC for a new system !
ReplyDeleteOman is isolated and no neighbours to link to - passengers can walk - what about freight - lots of expensive equipment to buy to lift 11million tons (each day?)
Still really interested to find out from Alex Adams why the dead end branch into Ibra ?
What? So they've finally agreed to go all the way to Salalah? I thought it was stopping in Duqm
ReplyDeletedifferent systems, sounds like a distaster, unless its a security measure, Oman worried about UAE/Iraq/Iran troops storming over the borber to get at there date supplies...lol
ReplyDeleteynotoman - yes it seems an awkward way of doing things doesnt it?
ReplyDeleteNadia - I think it's in phase 2...
Anon - you can set an anonymous name... It seems utterly ridiculous that they are all on different systems. One wonders what on earth is going on, is it not called the Gulf Cooperation Council? Apparently Cooperation is not high on the agenda...
Thanks, I Posted your blog on my page/
ReplyDeleteGreat News.
Regards
yousuf
Not true. All GCC rails will be electric, and all will have unified gauges to allow inter-GCC travel without the need to change rails, except the proposed link between Qatar and Abudhabi, which will, untill now, be a Maglev link.
ReplyDeletePassengers won't have to change trains when going to the UAE - they will just change the locomotive/engine from electric to diesel at the border. It is a routine change in many places in the world and is expected not to take more than 20 minutes per train. But the line is meant for freight only in the initial phase, it is supposed to start carrying passengers only much later.
ReplyDeleteJason
These things will be air-conditioned then I imagine? Can Oman sustainably afford the electricity bills?
ReplyDelete-Omani in US
looks as though Muscat Daily needs to do a re-write
ReplyDeleteand Anonymous - could be closer to the truth than we want with that Gazelle Father scratching around