The Arab Mashreq International Railway is a proposed railway network in the Mashriq, which is located in Western Asia and eastern North Africa in the eastern part of the Arab world.[1] The planned network has north–south and east–west axes, and 16 different routes covering 19500 route-km. The plan is ambitious; 60% of the routes have not yet been built, and parts of existing railway infrastructure are weak or have gauge differences;[2][3] some states may be unable to make large investments in infrastructure. Like the European Trans-European Transport Network,[4] the Agreement specifies a family of high-priority international routes, rather than setting service details or awarding contracts to operators.
The Agreement on International Railways in the Arab Mashreq was adopted on 17 April 2003.[5][6] It entered into force on 23 May 2005 after it had been ratified by Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. As of July 2016, it has been ratified by 12 states: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the State of Palestine, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
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Jordan joined OTIF in August 2010, and plans to become a hub for international rail transport.[7] In 2011-2014, Jordan's Ministry of Transport plans to invest €2·6bn in rail infrastructure connected to the Arab Mashreq International Railway Network.[8]
The railway network will be built to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge, and UIC/B loading gauge.[9]