Runaway Train

Country-by-country summary
The Kingdom of Bahrain
Bahrain has long had ambitious plans to develop an
integrated transport system. It is at the heart of the
“National Economic Strategy for 2030”, which was launched
in 2008. A steep rise in population together with high levels
of vehicle ownership has resulted in severe congestion in
Bahrain, which the Government hopes to alleviate by 2030
through a national rail network. The collapse in oil price in
2015 has, however, had a deep effect on Bahrain, which has
not been as fortunate as other Gulf states, in terms of its
breakeven requirements. Nevertheless, there appears to be
some traction in finally realising Bahrain’s rail ambitions
with confirmation being provided in May 2016 by Bahrain’s
Minister of Transportation and Communications that
detailed studies of Bahrain’s railway network will be finalised
early this year. 69
The integrated transit lines
The invitation to bid for feasibility studies of the integrated
transit lines had been expected to be issued back in 2009
and was to include plans for a tramway, a light rail transit
and a metro system. A bus system and a monorail were also
being considered. However, the project has been continually
delayed. Despite the fact that in 2011 an invitation for
pre-qualification was issued, 70 no announcement has been
made on whether those parties seeking pre-qualification
were actually pre-qualified.
38 Runaway train | January 2017