A truly Global Centre of Rail Excellence…
By Rob Forde, Director of Strategy and Skills at GCRE Ltd
In recent years the Middle East has witnessed a remarkable transformation in its urban landscape, with a notable focus on the expansion and modernisation of rail transportation networks across the region.
This growth of rail has been driven by a number of factors, including increasing populations, rapid urbanisation and economic diversification, as well as the region’s planning for greater sustainability. As governments in the Middle East look towards more efficient, more reliable and greener modes of transportation, rail has emerged as a backbone solution to meet the region’s evolving mobility needs. I’ve seen this growth first hand having just returned from a very informative visit to Rail Live in Abu Dhabi earlier this month.
The tendency in the UK and across mainland Europe is to be very nation-centric in our thinking about rail. What we risk with this approach are the significant commercial opportunities and the shared learning opportunities that can come from greater international collaboration in rail innovation.
Rail in the Middle East has grown considerably in the last few years with Etihad Rail established as the developer and operator of the United Arab Emirates national railway network, connecting the country’s key centres. Other projects include ambitions plans to connect up the Gulf Cooperation Council region, with the recent announcement of Hafeet Rail connecting the UAE to Oman, which will be the first ever railway in the country of Oman.
Saudi Arabia also have plans to extend their rail infrastructure with a Metro system in Riyadh and greater cross-country rail connections including the Haramain High Speed Railway serving Mecca and Medina. Egypt also has plans to modernise and expand their national network.
Rail in the Middle East is of course not new. It has been present for over 170 years, with one of the first railways built in the Middle East beginning construction in 1851 and first operated in 1856, joining the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Cairo. The railway quickly became a vital artery of transportation in Egypt, significantly reducing travel time between the two key cities and facilitating trade, tourism, and new communication. The railway introduced modern transportation standards and technologies to Egypt, including steam locomotives and railway signalling systems.
The first railway in the Arabian Peninsula is often considered to be the Hejaz Railway, which was constructed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The railway was a significant feat of engineering that connected the city of Damascus in present-day Syria with the holy city of Medina in what is now Saudi Arabia, traversing through the Hejaz region of the Arabian Peninsula. There were even plans in the 20th century to link the Middle East with Europe, with the Berlin-Baghdad railway an ambitious project aimed at linking the capital of Germany with the capital of Iraq.
While at first glance the Middle East might feel very different to UK rail, many of the innovation challenges are similar. Net Zero is perhaps the most obvious, with every nation on earth now actively funding the development of new traction systems and greener infrastructure that can support modal shift and a more sustainable transport network.
In supporting this, there are ways in which UK rail and partners in the Middle East can and should work together. Almost all the networks across the middle east are built to standard gauge, using similar signalling systems, standards and principles. Much of this has been imported from Europe and there is a lot we can learn from how the region is taking forward its own infrastructure development.
What I’ve noticed is the sheer pace of development across the Middle East. Many of the regions ambitious railway construction programmes have been brought together quickly and have had new technology built into them from the start. For example, all of the stations on the Dubai Metro have platform doors and, importantly, air conditioning built in as standard. Much of the new rolling stock across the Middle East is arriving ETCS L2 ready, with new infrastructure being remote condition monitored from day one. It’s a clear case of investing up front in an asset for a long-term benefit.
This is where GCRE can significantly support the growth of rail in the Middle East. As more complex systems are introduced such as ETCS together with new rolling stock and wider mobility infrastructure, so the implementation and delivery challenges become greater. The systems integration testing capability that GCRE can offer could be crucial to the on-time, to-budget delivery of such vital national infrastructure schemes.
Of course, we cannot create exactly the same conditions as those under which the Middle East networks will operate. Sand and sun are not what the UK is famous for, but most operational conditions will be available at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence. Integration of track and train for ETCS will be a significant challenge for the global rail market and GCRE will be a key test bed to overcome critical implementation problems. In fact, with modern telecommunications, a lot of the testing by Middle East clients at GCRE could be undertaken remotely and managed from home nations. Importantly, GCRE can also act as a hub for net zero innovation and a place for the UK and Middle East clients to share and transfer knowledge and capabilities on the shared challenges we face.
What is clear is that the destination of a more reliable, more integrated and decarbonised transport system is one that all nations can get to quicker if we increase the level of international collaboration in rail and mobility innovation and work together to build the net zero transport networks of the future.
The Global Centre of Rail Excellence can act as an important platform for that work, serving a truly international market demand for rail innovation which is growing significantly across the world. By learning and developing together we can build a valuable knowledge bank at GCRE that can significantly enhance the transport systems of tomorrow.