Oman plans first metro and passenger rail service

06 AUG 2021, Global Construction Review

The government of Oman has drawn up a plans to build a metro network that would connect Muscat with its international airport.

The metro, Oman’s first rail system, would link the airport with the commercial hub of Ruwi, the administrative centre of Muttrah and the coastal town of Seeb, 20km northwest of Muscat, International Railway Journal reports.

The project would be part of Oman’s Urban Revitalisation and Regeneration Projects (URRP), which sets a framework for economic development over the next 20 years, as well as the Oman National Spatial Strategy (ONSS), the national planning strategy.

The aim is to use the metro to spur more commercial and residential development around its stations. Plans have also been put forward to convert Muscat’s numerous wadis – desert canyons – into parks.

There are also plans for the country’s first passenger rail service, which would connecting Seeb with the port city of Sohar, about 120km northwest of Muscat.

This would be part of Oman’s National Railway Project, which envisages a 2,100km system linking it with the UAE in the north and Yemen in the south.