The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, wider tensions in the Red Sea and the oil price spikes these circumstances occassion have made one thing abundantly clear: Gulf countries and global markets are dependent on vulnerable maritime routes.

But while national leaders and diplomats work to free up crucial waterways through which much of the world’s trade passes, another transport phenomenon is tentatively underway. For over 15 years, six Arab Gulf countries have been quietly cooperating to build a railway network – and the project has recently accelerated.

The aim is to increase the Gulf’s economic integration and improve the region’s resilience and security. But as experts of global governance and political economy, we also ask: Could such a rail project help reshape politics and conflict in the region?

That question is especially salient now, given that the U.S.-Iran war has meant months of severely disrupted and largely halted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Putting regional integration on track

Routes in and out of the Persian Gulf region have long been subject to outside influence from military powers and bitter regional rivalries and conflicts. That has included Portuguese control of Hormuz during part of the 16th and 17th centuries, and British and American naval and airpower.

Since the founding of the Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981, leaders of its six member countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – have channeled efforts into regional integration. But despite 45 years of summits and joint declarations, economic and political cooperation has generally lagged behind rhetoric.

The current war in Iran has served to underscore the need for Gulf cooperation, and the GCC Railway project may be the means by which this is finally achieved.

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