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Kuwait Metro Network Map

Kuwait City Metro Map

A reader called Mohammad just emailed me this map of the Kuwait City Metro which he scanned from the latest issue of MEED. It looks like there will be a subway station near my home which is pretty cool. The metro is supposed to be completed by 2014.

Here is the larger version of the map. [Picture]

45 replies on “Kuwait Metro Network Map”

Kuwait will NOT be getting a subway ! probably an sprils fool prank, if anyone is just a little intelligent theyll realise that the distances between stops are impractical and the presence of FOUR DIFFERENT ROUTES makes it almost impossible to belive.

Kuwait is a country that cannot build a roundabout around the Sheraton area without finding out years later that the church and vicinity are in the way – you expect them to DIG INTO the EARTH *under* the city and build a metro – which no one will use anyway because anyone can buy a piece of crap car for 350-500KD, use wasta to pass an inspection test and use it daily to congest our roads without having to use the metro.

This will never happen and even if it did:

1. The material, finishing, features, overall aesthetic look of the metro, rails and station would be CHEAPO (unlike the glimmering new UAE stations).

2. The metro and stations would turn into dumps with all sorts of waste and damage.

3. Authorities would cut corners maintaining and servicing the stations.

In 6 to 8 months the new metro would look two decades old.

Whilst the majority of indigenous Kuwaitis remain irrevocably attached to their cars, news of a step forward in feasibility studies on the construction of an urban rail system has been greeted largely positively. An announcement by the Ministry of Public Works this month that it would appoint a consultant to begin the feasibility study promises that Kuwait’s congestion problems may yet be resolved – and not merely by the construction of more road infrastructure.

According to Parsons Brinckerhoff International, the international consulting firm responsible for reviewing Kuwait’s urban transport system, the idea of the plan is to link densely populated areas of Kuwait City by rail. This would involve both an underground and an elevated system, stretching 32 km in length from the airport to the city and on to Sabah al-Sale. Preliminary estimates place the cost at between KD350m ($1.2bn) and KD600m ($2.05bn) for the initial line. This figure will then significantly increase as the rail network expands.

The final bill will to a large extent depend on the portion of the line that runs underground, given that a subterranean rail tunnel costs twice that of an elevated line. Equally, whilst an underground system allows a more direct route point to point, digging poses its own set of problems. In particular, Kuwait’s porous soil, along with the fact that the groundwater table is close to surface level, makes the construction and engineering process that much more complicated, with erosion and leakage potentially affecting the lines.

Digging and building aside, planners are sure to position their stops near residential areas with medium- to low-income levels. Low-income commuters could easily make the switch from buses or other means of transport to rail. On the basis of this calculation and with all the supporting infrastructure in place, Parsons Brinckerhoff estimates an average of 8000 passengers an hour, with 15,000 at rush hour between the main stations in Kuwait City. With the current boom in construction seeing more offices and business activity downtown, these figures will most likely grow even further.

Yet one key question that remains unanswered at this point is who would be responsible for the financing of the undertaking. The government has yet to indicate whether it will finance the project itself, or whether it will be handed over to private investors on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.

Meanwhile, “However packed the trains are going to be is not going to make the project financially viable,” says Glen Thorn, regional manager of Parsons Brinckerhoff International. Fares alone will not be sufficient to cover the capital costs sunk during the construction process – as is the case in all transportation projects of this scale across the globe. Instead, “The configuration of the land resources and property development of the surrounding area” is what brings in financial viability, Thorn argues.

Meanwhile, Kuwait’s streets are certainly in need of relief, with roads in Kuwait City packed during peak hours. Whilst Kuwait may have a total population of just 2.7m, a combination of geography and city planning has made urban travel that much more cumbersome. Having the city centre surrounded by sea, along with areas in the surrounding region reserved for environmental conservation, water collection and oil has somewhat limited the options available for expanding Kuwait’s road network. This, combined with a population growth rate which, according to official estimates from 2005, is currently around 3.44%, makes the case for a rail network all the more striking.

Still, the vast majority of indigenous Kuwaitis are unlikely to be converted to public transport no matter how comfortable or efficient the service may be. Privacy, hygiene, status and a general pride in cars all factor in here. But for Kuwait’s swell of expatriates and middle- to low-income wage earners, a rail system could offer welcome relief to congested streets.

I first read about this (a railway network) for Kuwait way back in 2004. Its 2008 now and it doesn’t look like there’s been any progress.

I’m skeptical about this like the others, although it does seem to be a very impressive project.

ikoyu this is a metro map not a city map. haven’t you used a subway anywhere else in the world, it works differently from a street map. The distances aren’t accurate and if you put it on top of a city map it won’t match but thats because metro maps are simplified.

i think this project will be done when mazrouq offers us menu’s in his dewaniya which is NEVER loool

I think its too optimistic.

I do not know if anyone else noticed, but, Rai and Reggae stations are after each other 🙂

Kuwait, It’s nice to see some optimism albeit cautious…

I am of the same opinion. I heard about this project years and years ago as well as the GCC train line (linking Iraq to Oman and all the coastal cities on the way)…. But this was the first sign that things are moving forward. I know it’s silly, but seeing a draft train map suggests light at the end of the tunnel (excuse the terrible pun).

I will keep using my car – but I will definately use the metro too!

More optimism please 🙂

A Metro is a necessity for a city that is growing at a breakneck speed. Just see how difficult it is to get parking in the City. It’s only a matter of time.

– Build a metro network.
– Make it prohibitively expensive to park in the city (I was paying $12-$20 for a day’s parking in Toronto)
– Enforce fines for illegal parking.

But 2014 is a bit too optimistic.

just like a railway trip from london to paris, we’ll be able to do the same from kuwait to dubai. They are gonna connect all major cities. It’s a major push forward.
It’s a shame that they havent included sub stations in some residential areas like qortoba, surra or even jabriaya. Dont think u really need to dig in to the earth for some lines… if you notice in dubai they are building alotta railway lines above highways.. amazing idea.
Imagine going to work at the ministries complex and not having to sit in the traffic in the airport road. just sit and relax and watch the traffic below you as the rail wisks you to your destination. wow.

Using metro will be interesting. But it shouldn’t be like in Dubai where it goes through the high class business/residential area and not anywhere near the industrial area where the public transport is highly required.

DXB is more interested in the looks of it rather than the usefulness.

Why do i keep thinking to myself that projects such as this and the Harir City are part of a conspiracy plan that we are all unaware of !?

ikoyu

When you copy and paste an article you should at least give credit to the original author. What you just did called plagiarism.

The metro project will face the same fate as Harir City and Jaber Bridge. They will spend millions planning and will end up scraping the whole thing. FYI, Harir City planning started in the 1980s and after millions and millions wasted the project recently put on hold.

sfsa78: From what I understand they will be adding suburban stations as extensions to the main lines. I’m not sure how accurate this information is but it’s what I’ve heard. But there is already a major station in Jabriya on this map (Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital).

Kuwait City desperately needs a transport system to get in and out of it with all the new buildings coming up within the next five years, as the city simply cannot accommodate anymore vehicle traffic. It will be difficult to change the mentality of the people here and get them to leave their cars behind and start riding the metro, but if the government is serious about this metro then they have to impose some measures that will force people to use it. Like cajie mentioned above, making parking very expensive in the major urban/commercial centres (the city, Salmiya, Hawalli) is one option. But even more importantly, they should start imposing a daily congestion charge on all vehicles wanting to enter Kuwait City – and definitely charge more on larger vehicles (SUVs) that take up more room and have greater carbon emissions. That way you kill two birds with one stone – minimize traffic and reduce our carbon footprint. That is the ideal solution – like what they’ve done in London. But unless they come up with proper and efficient policies and plans to go along with the building of the metro, then the whole project will be useless.

While I’m trying to think positive and be optimistic about the Kuwait metro, history tells us that this, like everything else, will end up being more of a failure than a success.

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