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Linking Middle East with Central Asia via Strait of Hormuz possible: German executive

Xinhua, November 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Connecting the Middle East with the Far East and also Europe is a realistic vision, the chairman and CEO of Germany's national railway group Deutsche Bahn AG said on Monday, as the Arab Gulf states are working to launch their own railway network.

"We are also confident that there is political support for a railway connection through the Strait of Hormuz which can link the Arab peninsula with Central Asia," Grube Rüdiger Grube told the annual Dubai International Project Management Forum 2015, which kicked off on Monday.

Grube hailed the Gulf Arab states' railway plans as the most ambitious and largest railway projects in the world.

The ongoing 2,177-km-long rail network will link all six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the first time to provide an alternative to air or sea travel. It is expected to be fully operational in 2018.

The German group is ready to work on the vision to link the Middle East with the Far East through rail tracks which can add value to China's Belt and Road Initiative, he said.

"The UAE railway network, which is under construction, is an essential basis of such plans and to connect the UAE with its neighbors Saudi Arabia and Oman," he said.

The United Arab Emirates is building a 1,200-km-long railway network in the Gulf state.

The two-day Dubai International Project Management Forum 2015 is held as part of the "UAE week of innovation." Endit