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While we futz and dither, some of the Gulf states are getting into new trains in a big way, according to the Economist: http://tinyurl.com/c6d7nmPosts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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Interesting article. There's no indication of type of motive power anticipated for these new railroads. And wold GE be able to compete in this pond?
Posts: 518 | From: Maynard, MA, USA | Registered: Sep 2000
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Well, the article is a bit misleading. Before I left consulting to join the Federal government, I was contacted to work on several of these projects. They mostly involve short-distance urban passenger transportation as part of the planned expansion of cities, mostly in the UAE but also in Kuwait. It's exciting, building new cities in the desert where literally nothing previously existed.
The Saudi project is rather different. It does include one high-speed rail line from Jedda to Mecca, but mostly involves freight lines across the desert to carry goods from ports to consumption centers and manufacturing locations. Last I heard, the Saudis were looking at US technology for this, including double-stack container equipment.
So they're two very different markets (actually three, since the Saudi stuff is either freight or long distance HSR, and not urban transportation).
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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If the Saudis do long distance HSR, one wonders what their first class section will look like. I'm sure some vendor will be happy to go completely overboard to set a new standard in luxury.
Posts: 41 | From: South Dakota | Registered: Sep 2008
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Unless construction is well under way, and has been for a while, the statement that "Pilgrims could be riding the rails to Mecca and Medina at 360kph (225mph) as early as next year, rather than plodding along the kingdom’s notoriously crash-prone roads." expresses an impossibility.
Maybe it is under construction. I first heard talk of this one about 3 years ago.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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