A development of great importance is taking place within the GCC. It is the railway project that will connect the GCC countries.
It got a boost from the first conference to establish railway and metro systems in the GCC, which was organised by the Ministry of Transport and Communications in the Sultanate of Oman in cooperation with the General Secretariat of the Council.
The project has already entered the implementation stage in the majority of GCC states, which have established government bodies and institutions for this purpose, including Qatar, which has allocated huge sums to building a rail and metro network.
Other GCC countries have also made progress and are waiting for a political decision by the Council’s leaders to take this project forward. This will have a positive effect, pushing the Gulf towards a new stage unprecedented in the bloc’s 34-year history.
The project is meant to promote “real integration and direct interaction” among the GCC countries in the political, economic and social spheres. It would be a solid foundation for a Gulf Union.
Students of the history of railways understand the important role they played in the political and geographical integration of empires. Those empires have disintegrated but the railways have had a lasting impact.
This was most evident in “the empire where the sun never sets”, as the British empire was described. The British built extensive railway networks in their colonies. This gave them an advantage over other colonial powers, which led the latter to establish railways of their own to their outlying territories.
This was true for France, tsarist Russia, the United States and the Ottoman empire, which launched — at the time of Sultan Abdul Hamid II — the Hejaz railway line in 1900, connecting the Hejaz to the Levant for transporting pilgrims who used to suffer a lot during their Haj journey.
However, the real aim of the project was to support “the Islamic University Movement”, which emerged in the 19th century and targeted the unification of Muslims under one state.
Jamal Ad-Din Al Afghani was the most prominent advocate of this project, which was implemented by Sultan Abdul Hamid II with the additional aims of linking up far-flung places in the sprawling Ottoman empire and consolidating control over it.
In 1902, a railway line was laid between Damascus and Amman. In 1908, the first train arrived in the city of Medina. Sultan Abdul Hamid II was the first to introduce the railway in the Arab part of the Ottoman empire.
He had a railway line laid from Jaffa to Jerusalem in 1888. The 87km railway line was the first in the Levant to serve Christian pilgrims from Europe. A railway line was also laid between Damascus and Beirut, spanning 147km; the trip took six hours by train.
In the light of this background, we can imagine the political importance of the rail and metro projects the GCC countries are implementing at an estimated cost of about $250bn over the next 10 years.
Nearly 10,000km of rail and metro tracks will be laid in the GCC countries, according to an announcement by Dr Abdul Latif Al Zayani, GCC Secretary-General, during his inaugurating speech at the Muscat conference.
The GCC rail project will help speedily move larger numbers of people and bigger volumes of goods than any other means of transport. It will improve coordination between the GCC countries and help them formulate common political strategies.
This will amount to a quantum leap towards a Gulf Union — a stage people in the region have been dreaming of, with a federal structure, common foreign and defence policies, and political, economic and social systems that are unique to each GCC member state.
Previously, Oman had expressed reservations about moving to this stage, but that was not due to lack of consensus on a Gulf Union. It just wanted more objective conditions to prevail before this transitional step, which requires careful consideration.
In my opinion, a rail link between the GCC countries should take care of the most important issues. When it becomes operational, communication between the member states will have become more effective than ever.
The railway network linking the GCC states will be a very important ingredient in implementing security strategies. It will help move military equipment and soldiers in large numbers anywhere in the region.
It will also assist the security agencies fighting terrorist and extremist organisations.
It could even provide proactive capabilities in tactical operations by allowing the possibility of moving quickly across vast distances; especially when using high-speed trains.
It is also hoped that this network will strengthen relationships among GCC citizens in a way that other means of transport cannot do.
It is important to give this project the necessary emphasis so that the governments can fulfil the needs of the citizens.
Most importantly, this project adds weight to the statement of the former GCC secretary-general, Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah, who said, “The GCC is here to stay.”
The author is a columnist and a political analyst
