Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Bahrain have agreed to construct a rail way between them at a cost of round $4.5 billion and the project will be launched in 2014, a Saudi newspaper reported on Thursday.

The project is part of a $15.5 billion rail network that will link the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and stretch nearly 2,200 km, the Arabic language daily Aleqtisadiah said, quoting Ramiz Al Assar, an adviser at the Riyadh-based GCC Secretariat.Assar made the remark after a meeting in Manama to discuss the Saudi-Bahrain rail project, which will be funded by the two governments and private investors.

He said engineering designs for the rail way between the two GCC members would be completed in late 2012 or early 2013.

“Construction work for this project will begin in 2014 and will be completed by 2017, when the remaining stages of the GCC rail project will also be finished in line with an agreement by the GCC heads of state,” he said.

Besides Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the GCC groups the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman in an economic, defence and political alliance created in 1981.

The six members, which have already created a common market and customs union, control more than 40 per cent of the world’s recoverable oil deposits and 20 per cent of the global gas resources.