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How It Works

Who governs the network, how it is paid for without interest, how it stays safe, and the values it runs on. Drawn from the concept paper by Kianosh Rahmani, originator of the GRN idea.

Download the concept paperRead the plan

PDF, 25 pages, version 2.0. Every figure is a first estimate, to be settled by feasibility studies.

The first path

Monopoly and distance

Technology and wealth gather in a few hands. Vast sums build escape routes for a small number, while most of humanity is left without opportunity, medical care or education. The gap deepens every year and ends in unrest.

The second path

Inclusion and connection

Technology and wealth are shared. Every nation is connected and every person is enabled. Shared infrastructure carries opportunity to the remotest places and spreads wealth across the earth instead of gathering it at a few points.

The Global Rail Network is a proposal for this second path.
Kianosh Rahmani, originator of the GRN idea

Why it is needed

A century of mounting pressure.

Most of the coming growth happens where infrastructure is weakest. These places need a clean, high-capacity way to move people and goods into the heart of the continents, independent of a few fragile chokepoints.

10.5 billionThe world's population at its peak in the 2080s, by United Nations estimates
216 millionPeople who may be forced to move within their own countries by 2050 because of climate, by World Bank estimates
Sharply higherGlobal demand for water by the middle of the century

Governance

The Global Rail Consortium (GRC).

An independent international body, modelled on how countries share the International Space Station. No country, company or person can hold monopoly control.

One country, one voteIn the General Assembly, every seat weighs the same, whatever the size of the investment behind it.
General AssemblyThe highest decision-making body. Approves broad policy, budgets and new members.
Executive CouncilCarries out the Assembly's decisions and runs daily affairs. The presidency rotates; important decisions need an absolute majority.
Technical CommissionGlobal standards for engineering, safety and interoperability.
Court of Dispute ResolutionIndependent arbitration in commercial, operational and sovereignty disputes.
Independent Audit OfficeFull financial transparency, annual public reports, and compliance with Islamic finance.
Education and Culture CommissionStaff training, knowledge transfer and cultural exchange.

Safeguards against monopoly

  • No country may hold the presidency of the Executive Council permanently.
  • The size of an investment does not decide the vote in the General Assembly.
  • Ownership is spread so widely that it cannot be captured, and every holder has a ceiling.
  • A country that damages the network forfeits its own share to the extent of the damage.
  • Every contract, payment and revenue is open to every member country.

Every country has an equal vote, but profit follows each country’s stake.

Profit is shared in proportion to each country's stake: invest more, receive more. What is equal is the voice in deciding the fate of a shared human asset, as in the UN General Assembly, the World Health Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Universal Postal Union.

An example with four countries of different stakes.

Finance

Paid for without a single interest payment.

Every investment, every share of revenue and every return follows the principles of Islamic finance: ethical, free of usury, and open to every nation whatever its faith.

  • SukukAsset-backed securitiesInvestors share in the revenue of the infrastructure. No interest is ever paid.
  • MusharakaJoint investmentProfit is split by a ratio agreed in advance; losses are borne in proportion to capital.
  • IjaraLeasingEquipment and infrastructure are leased to operators. The payments are rent, not interest.
  • Istisna'aConstruction financeBuilding costs are financed in advance and repaid on completion. Suited to civil works.
  • WaqfPerpetual endowmentA permanent fund so that even the poorest nations always share in the network's growth.

For countries without capital

The deferred-equity model makes sure no nation is left off the network for lack of money.

Capital recoveredInvestorHost countryHost country, all profitDay one: the host owns its shareTimeNet profit
  1. An investing country pays for construction inside the host country.
  2. The host country owns its share from the very first day.
  3. While the investor is repaid, net profit is split between investor and host.
  4. As profits rise, both shares rise in proportion.
  5. Once the investor has recovered its capital, repayment ends automatically.
  6. From then on all the profit goes to the host country, and the GRC records the transfer automatically.

How profit is shared

  • 80%Shareholding member states, by each country's share
  • 10%Network Development Fund: expansion and new branch lines
  • 5%Guarantee and Emergency Fund: risk and crises
  • 5%Waqf and Solidarity Fund: low-income countries and travellers of limited means

A first proposal. The General Assembly sets the final percentages.

$1.6 trillionthree main arteries, about 86,370 km
$18 millionaverage cost per kilometre
8–12%annual return at maturity
7–12 yearsto recover capital

The money exists; the choice is what to spend it on.

In 2024 alone the world spent about $2.7 trillion on its militaries, about $334 for every person on earth, and the tenth increase in a row. A share of a few years of that would build much of the network.

How routes are chosen

Through the middle of the continents, not along their edges.

The aim of these rules is fair access. The final routes will follow geological, seismic, environmental and economic studies and a vote of the GRC.

  • Through the heart of each continent, so access is as equal as possible and inland regions are reached.
  • Connect as many countries as possible.
  • Keep routes short and direct, to cut cost and pressure on the land.
  • Follow the ground: plains before mountains, and past cities rather than through them.
  • No duplication. Where a suitable line exists, no parallel line is laid.
  • A mesh with alternative routes, so closing one point cannot paralyse the network.

The network stays open. A fourth artery, a spine from central Europe to the middle lines of Asia, and further arteries may be added at the proposal of member countries.

See the three arteriesOpen the map

One standard

One mismatch on the line can stop the whole network.

If the gauge changes or a control system is incompatible at any point, the train stops halfway. So the whole network shares one standard, written with the next hundred years in mind.

1,435 mmTrack gaugeInternational standard gauge, with adaptive solutions where regions differ.
ETCSSignalling and controlOne unified system, modelled on the European Train Control System (ETCS) and the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS).
GoA4AutomationFull automation as the design goal, alongside a trained workforce.
2 tracksSafetyDouble track everywhere, a parallel service road, and cyber and physical protection.

The four sea crossings

Bering StraitAsia and North America

88 km

Shallow water and two small islands in mid-channel help; extreme cold, drifting ice and sheer length are the challenges.

HormuzArabian Peninsula and Iran

39 km

Immersed tube tunnel, a bridge in the shallower parts, and a bored tunnel where the water is deepest.

Bab-el-MandebAfrica and the Arabian Peninsula

30 km

An immersed tunnel, a bored tunnel and a bridge are all under consideration.

GibraltarEurope and Africa

14 km

The shortest, but deep, uneven and seismically active. Current studies favour a twin bored tunnel.

On its way to Australia, artery 1 also crosses several straits in the South-East Asian archipelago. Engineers will set their locations and designs after study.

Operations, health and safety

Every station is also a place of care.

A railway that joins the continents can carry disease as easily as it carries people. Stations serve as health centres for travellers, and as screening points during an outbreak. They also bring medical standards to remote regions along the way.

Small station

Emergency clinic

  • A nurse at all hours
  • Emergency equipment
  • An ambulance

Medium station

Medical centre

  • A doctor
  • Radiology and a laboratory
  • A pharmacy
  • An intensive-care bed

Major hub

Full hospital

  • All specialisms
  • Surgery
  • A helipad
  • A complete laboratory

Maintenance before repair

  • Automatic monitoring, sensors along the whole line, and a digital twin of the network.
  • Double track, so one line is always in reserve.
  • A service road beside the entire route for emergency access.
  • Emergency stations at regular intervals, staffed day and night.
  • A share of net profit set aside for maintenance, and major upgrades on a fixed schedule.

Security in two layers

The physical layer

Sensors, cameras and drones along the whole network, an international rapid-response force, double track, cyber protection and service roads.

The economic layer

The economic layer is the stronger one. When every country profits from the network, every country has a reason to protect it, and the people whose lives depend on it are its best guardians.

Under 3 hoursShort journeysErgonomic seats, internet, clean facilities, a buffet.
3 to 12 hoursMedium journeysReclining berths, a restaurant, showers, a prayer room and a place for ablution.
Over 12 hoursLong journeysA private cabin with bed and bathroom, a doctor, a pharmacy, a restaurant, a children's space.

Equal access at every level of service for older people, children, expectant mothers and people with limited mobility, and service offices for travellers who lose documents or money on the way.

Islamic principles, universal ethics

Built on Islamic principles, open to every person.

This is not a project for Muslims alone. Its principles of justice, transparency, shared prosperity, ethical conduct and freedom from exploitation are universal values that serve every human being, whatever their religion.

  • AmanaTrusteeshipEvery transaction is transparent, with no hidden charges, private gain or manipulation.
  • ʿAdlJusticeNo nation or investor may exploit another. Profit-sharing prevents unjust accumulation.
  • ShuraConsultationAll decisions are taken in the General Assembly, where every nation votes.
  • WaqfEndowmentA perpetual fund so the poorest nations always share in the growth.
  • No ribaFree of usurySukuk, musharaka and ijara instead of interest-bearing debt.
  • Calm, peace and respect throughout the network, protecting every passenger's dignity.
  • Space for prayer and worship on every train and at every station.
  • Halal food everywhere, and every diet taken into account.
  • Family spaces on every train and at every station.
  • Modest dress, asked as a matter of respect.
  • No violence, threats or weapons on the network, as is already normal in air travel.
  • Respect for the earth: viaducts over sensitive habitats, distance from protected areas, clean energy.
Our purpose is not to impose a religion, but to create an environment in which the human conscience remains awake, in which dignity is preserved, and in which every traveller — of any race or nationality — may feel safe, respected and at peace.
Kianosh Rahmani, originator of the GRN idea

The vision for 2100

Two pictures of the same century.

A picture of what may happen if the right decision is taken, and what is likely if it is not.

A world without the network

  • The continents stay apart, and billions remain shut out of world markets.
  • Wealth gathers in ever fewer hands.
  • Climate change speeds up as air and road transport dominate.
  • Technology stays the monopoly of a few; most of humanity is left behind.
  • Cultural and racial divisions continue, because people have little contact with one another.

A world with it, in 2100

  • More than 195 countries joined in one living network.
  • New cities along the routes, growing naturally and home to many cultures.
  • Mineral and farm resources once out of reach, developed fairly.
  • Health, medicine and education brought into line across continents.
  • Prejudice reduced by daily human contact.
  • Islamic finance proven at global scale, an ethical economy for all.
  • New global standards in law, medicine, engineering and culture.
If we can connect the world by rail, perhaps we can also bring the hearts of human beings closer together.
Kianosh Rahmani, originator of the GRN idea

This document is a beginning, a seed. We do not claim to have every answer, only to have asked the right question and pointed in the right direction.

Concept Paper

25 pages in ten parts, version 2.0 (2026). Free to share for non-commercial, governmental and academic discussion.

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