Now we have come to the end of this road. I began with the philosophy of travel, spoke of the world as it is, opened out the idea, laid bare its engineering and its economics and its governance, and set before your eyes, with figures and with documents, the future that awaits us.
What remains is one thing: the invitation. For a book, by itself, builds nothing. A book can only plant a seed in a mind; the making of it grow is the work of other hands.
A word to leaders and policymakers
First, a word to those who sit today upon the seat of decision. You know better than anyone at what point the world is standing. You know that the pressures are mounting, that resources are growing scarcer, and that today’s silence will carry a price that must be paid tomorrow.
What this book proposes does not ask you to close your eyes to the interests of your own nation. On the contrary: it says that the true and long-term interests of your nation lie in connection, not in isolation; in cooperation, not in confrontation. A country through which the roads of the world pass grows more prosperous; and a nation that trades with other nations lives more securely.
And let me say one thing without concealment: history remembers the names of those who have left something behind. The kindlers of war are sooner or later forgotten, but the works of builders endure, like the name of those who defended the truth. He who today sets the first signature to such a scheme will write his name not upon the list of fleeting victories, but into the foundation of something from which generations will benefit.
A word to engineers and scientists
And now, to you who have the knowledge of building. This book has been written by an author who is no railway engineer; a man who has seen the world for years and has come to the conclusion that such a road is necessary. The numbers of this book are conceptual estimates, and its routes are lines upon a map.
So this work does not go forward without you. Weigh it, criticise it, find its errors and correct them. If any part of it is weak, say so; and if there is a better way, show it.
What this scheme asks of you is not endorsement; it is exactness. And if, after your weighing, a great part of it stands firm, then the world will have a real plan in its hands and not a poetic dream. The greatest buildings of history were built by people who thought rightly before they built. This is such a case.
A word to investors and men of economics
To you who understand capital, the matter is plain: this is not an expenditure, it is an investment — upon a foundation that will work for a century and will draw its revenue from dozens of springs.
But more than that, it is an opportunity to show that capital can be a builder rather than a devourer; that one may take a profit and at the same time build a better world. And if the financial model this book proposes is new to you, put it to the test. Capital that is knotted to real work and whose risk is justly divided is sturdier in the long term. The financial crises of recent decades have taught us all as much.
A word to writers, teachers and the media
To you whose work is the carrying of ideas: no great scheme has gone forward without the people knowing of it. Speak of this idea — criticise it, open it up, argue about it. Even an informed opposition is more useful than complete ignorance. What kills an idea is not opposition; it is silence.
A word to the young
And now, to you, for whom this century is your own century. The world described in this book — with ten billion human beings, an unstable climate, and gaps that grow deeper every day — is the world in which you will live, not we.
Perhaps you have been told that the great works are finished; that everything has been built and nothing remains but the keeping of the inheritance of those who went before. This is not true. The greatest works still lie ahead of us, and this is one of them. Those who will complete this network may today still be children, or may not yet be born. If you take this idea seriously, you will be that generation.
A word to ordinary people
And finally, to you — to each and every ordinary person upon the earth, who are in truth the real owners of this network.
Perhaps you will say: “I am nobody; I have neither capital nor power.” But know that no great work in history has been accomplished without the will of ordinary people. Governments yield, sooner or later, to what their people want. If this idea settles in your hearts, if you speak of it and ask your representatives to give it thought, then what ought to happen will happen.
And know that this scheme is, before anyone else, for you: for the farmer whose crop rots in the store, for the mother who must carry her sick child for hours along the road, for the young person whose talent gathers dust in some remote corner, and for everyone who dreams of seeing the world but has no road to it.
And now the first practical step
An invitation, if it is not accompanied by one definite step, remains at the level of a wish. So let me say clearly and without ambiguity what I believe the first practical work to be.
Not the signing of a treaty, nor the allocation of a budget, nor the breaking of ground. The first step is smaller than all three of these, and comes before them all:
The forming of an independent expert group to prepare a preliminary feasibility study of the Global Rail Network.
A group small but of many disciplines: railway engineers, geologists, transport economists, international lawyers, environmental specialists, and authorities on Islamic economics. The work of this group is not to endorse this book; it is to weigh it. They must weigh the routes, make the costs real, assess the water crossings from the technical side, and say which part of this scheme stands firm and which part must be written afresh.
Such a work needs neither an enormous budget nor a global consensus. It needs a few dozen experts and an institution to host them.
And until that report is in hand, no government and no international organisation will take this scheme seriously — and rightly so. Technical credibility is the gateway into any serious conversation.
So if you ask me where one should begin, my answer is a single sentence: with the forming of that group.
And a final word
This book began with the story of a war; with a land that burned in fire and with close to a million human beings who went — two of whom were my own brothers.
Years later, in long journeys and in meeting many peoples, I came to understand that what sets nations at one another’s throats is, more than anything else, unfamiliarity and distance. People who do not know one another are easily afraid of one another; and from fear to violence is no distance at all.
And I learned that after every calm a storm is on its way, and that those who think sooner are the winners. Today, after decades of relative stillness, the signs of a new storm are visible. But this time, before its arrival, there is a road before us.
What I have proposed in this book is no claim to save the world. It is only a road — a road of steel and concrete which can carry something far more precious: acquaintance, exchange, respect, and at last, peace. A road which, instead of building a shelter for escape, makes our shared home more flourishing. For there is no escape; God created this earth as one for all of us, and beyond it there is no refuge.
I have prepared this scheme to the measure of my own strength and handed it to you. I do not think it complete, and I do not claim that it is without fault. But I have faith that its principle is right, and I hope that those wiser than I will take it, better it, and carry it forward.
And if one day, years after me, a child in some remote village boards a train that carries him to the world, and if that train has reconciled peoples who until yesterday were afraid of one another, then these few pages will have been worth their price.
May God make the road easy for us, and place us among those who opened a way for His servants, and not a wall.
Kianosh Rahmani, author