This new railway line will link Bahrain with Saudi Arabia and form part of the $15.5 billion GCC -wide railway network, helping alleviate increasing congestion on the existing King Fahd Causeway linking the two countries. The first phase of the project, set to cost $3bn (KWD908.4m), will create a line to Nuwaiseb on the Saudi border and a 153km line linking Kuwait City with Boubyan Port. Stretching through all six Gulf states from Kuwait to Oman, the 2,100km passenger and cargo network has “faced technical and bureaucratic obstacles, and stalled as state budgets tightened because of low oil prices”, the report stated. Consultants are preparing bids for a feasibility study into the scheme. There are four teams currently preparing bids for the study. They are due to submit their proposals in the next three weeks. Bahrain's government is aiming to have the feasibility studies completed by the end of this year.