As investment in rail projects accelerates throughout the region - with nearly $167-billion worth of active future rail or metro projects being planned and awaiting award in the Middle East - early action needs to be taken to ensure there is effective interoperability among the new railway systems of the region, according to experts.

After many years of neglect in rail infrastructure, the last decade has seen a boom in railway construction. Since 2000 just under $90-billion worth of rail and metro contracts has been awarded in the Middle East, they stated.

By far the largest market is Saudi Arabia with some $44-billion contracts. This is more than double the second largest market, Algeria, which sits on contracts worth $17 billon and Qatar which has awarded $13.8-billion deals.

“Our target is to look to interoperability in the whole region and to make our railways operate across the whole system,” remarked Vasile Nicolae Olievschi, the railway adviser, National Transport Authority (NTA) of the UAE.

“We also need to have the operational structure that will fit together,” he noted.

A record $200 billion worth of rail investment is being planned in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) based on the pipeline of rail and metro projects under way in each country in the region, according to the latest data and research from Meed Projects, the online projects tracking service.

This equates to more than 33,700 km of mainline routes and 3,000 km of metro as the region prioritises the development of rail infrastructure as a means of alleviating congestion, improving access to more remote areas and diversifying the economy, it stated.

Olievschi will be in Dubai for the '10th Meed Mena Rail & Metro Conference' to be held in October at The Conrad Hotel, Dubai, where experts will discuss the massive opportunities that the Mena region presents for contractors, consultants and suppliers.

He will be part of the regulation and standardisation panel session during the conference’s first day on October 21. Others on the panel include Philippe Citroen, the director general of the Association of the European Rail Industry and Chris Dulake, the chief engineer of Crossrail of the UK, which is one of the largest and most complex railway projects in Europe.

"I want to expand about the risk of lack of interoperability if we don’t work together," stated Olievschi.

“The aim is to achieve interoperability in the way Europe and the US has done. We have a better chance of getting this right because we are starting from scratch,” he added.

According to experts, Saudi Arabia is the largest rail market in terms of future projects. "Thanks to giant projects such as the Makkah and Jeddah metros, the Saudi Landbridge and the planned cross-country networks, the kingdom will offer billions of dollars-worth of future projects," they stated.

"Qatar, Egypt and the UAE are the next largest future markets. The latter has the Abu Dhabi metro and the second phase of the Etihad Rail schemes as well as the extensions of the Dubai metro," they added.

In Qatar, there are still several contracts to be awarded on the Doha metro in addition to the main packages on the long-distance passenger and freight networks. And in Egypt, there are long-held plans to develop lines 4 to 6 of the Cairo metro together with high-speed networks from the north to the south of the country.

"The procurement of the fixed assets and rolling stock needed for the GCC railway, which is due to start operating in 2018, and key metro systems is proceeding,” said Meed Events chairman Edmund O’Sullivan.

“Minds are now turning to the challenge of making sure what is being built operates efficiently. Cross-border collaboration including ensuring compatible signalling systems will save the region hundreds of millions of dollars and that is why this issue will be at the top of the agenda of this year’s conference,” he added.

The Meed summit will bring together regional governments, transport ministries, rail agencies and regulators, operators, project managers, consultants, contractors and providers of rolling stock, signalling, technology, infrastructure and materials to learn the latest on projects and opportunities in the $300 billion Mena rail and metro industry.-TradeArabia News Service