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Jordan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to activate committees to examine the technical and operational aspects of a proposed regional railway project linking the two countries and Syria.
The project was discussed during a virtual meeting between Jordan’s Transport Minister Nidal Al-Qatamin and Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistics Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser.
Al-Jasser called for the formation of a joint committee comprising Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria to study route options and technical alignments.
The proposed corridor would focus on Jordan's Jaber and Al-Omari border crossings as a key connection axis.
The Jaber border crossing, in Mafraq governorate, links with Syria, while Al-Omari crossing, in Zarqa governorate, connects with Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi minister said the Kingdom already has a railway network of around 5,500 kilometres (km) extending to the Jordanian border, which could support future implementation of the cross-border project.
The tri-country railway scheme follows Jordan’s recent signing of a joint development agreement with the UAE for the $2.3 billion mineral railway project, also referred to as Aqaba Port Railway project, connecting the country’s phosphate and potash mines to the industrial port in Aqaba through two main tracks.
In March, Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) launched a 1,700-km international logistics corridor via freight trains linking King Abdulaziz Port, King Fahd Industrial Port, and Jubail Commercial Port to Al-Haditha Land Port on the border with Jordan.
(Writing by Majda Muhsen; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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