At least three train stations will be built in Bahrain that will be connected to the GCC railway network.

Bahrain will be connected to the grid through a station in Dammam, via the King Fahad Causeway, that will also be connected to Kuwait, Qatar and north west of Saudi Arabia, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) transportation committee chairman Abdulhakim Al Shemmeri said the plan was to connect the railway between the King Fahad Causeway and a proposed causeway linking Bahrain and Qatar through three local stops.

The stations are planned for construction at the Khalifa bin Salman Port, Bahrain International Airport and Amwaj Islands.

“The rail that will run down the new extension of the causeway will be going to and from the station in Dammam to Bahrain,” Al Shemmeri told the GDN.

“In Bahrain, the train will link with the Khalifa bin Salman Port and the port in Amwaj and the new airport extension.

“It would also move parallel to the planned Bahrain-Qatar Causeway.'

The deadline to start construction for all GCC countries has been set at the beginning of 2018.

However, Al Shemmeri criticised the government for delays in planning the project.

“We were at a conference in Muscat last week and the BCCI observed what was being done by other GCC countries,” he explained.

“Qatar has already started and will begin construction soon.

“Saudi has already begun building the line connecting the north to the south.

“In Oman the planning is almost done, but in Bahrain very little is being done.

“In regards to this the BCCI is calling on the government to increase the speed at which it is developing the railway.”

The GDN earlier reported that Canadian engineering consultancy SNC Lavalin has been tasked with conducting a study on the Bahrain-Saudi rail link, which is expected to be completed by the end of March.

Two routes have been proposed for an 87km-long rail link that will connect two stations on either side of the water, and Bahrain's station would be built on reclaimed land.

The alignment of the line had already been finalised and a landing point for the network had been agreed, while most of the technical and operational guidelines were also in place, Transportation Ministry Land Transport and Postal Affairs Under-Secretary Mariam Ahmed Jumaan earlier said. - TradeArabia News Service