Tourists and pilgrims should benefit. But not all countries are aboard
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskColonial-era railway routes blocked or destroyed by conflict or disuse are being reconnected. From Marrakech in Morocco to Mashhad in Iran, governments are investing tens of billions of dollars expanding decayed networks. Some 25,000km of track today is expected to grow by tens of thousands of kilometres by 2040. Saudi Arabia is tripling its network.
What is more, most governments gave priority to private over public transport. “Everyone thought cars and trucks were enough,” says a spokesman for Israel Railways. Plans for an Arab Mashreq International Railway with a hub in Baghdad have come to nothing. The six countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council paid only lip service to a railway project to link Kuwait along the Gulf to Oman.
Demand is booming. Israel’s passenger volume has soared from 12m two decades ago to 70m today and is projected to reach 400m by 2040. Egypt must upgrade its main lines, since passenger volume has risen 15-fold since the 1930s on track that is largely unchanged. Tourists and pilgrims should benefit. Saudi Arabia’s first high-speed train runs between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Egypt has just signed a contract to build a fast track from Cairo along the Nile to the pharaonic statues at Abu Simbel, 1,100km away, near the border with Sudan. Morocco is planning a high-speed line to the tourist hub of Marrakech.
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