Why Saudi Arabia’s $2 Trillion Line City is Failing

Select video clips courtesy of Getty Images

Select video clips courtesy of the AP Archive

Special thanks to MapTiler, OpenStreetMap Contributors, and GEOlayers

[GM-xknw]

*btw if you criticize this city on Twitter and you're a Saudi citizen, you'll go to jail.*

[RakzeeA]

9 million population
8.9 million of them: Unpaid migrant workers
0.1 million of them: Crazy rich people who have 8.9 million servants

[him_That_is_me]

To quote the great philosopher:
"smooth brain dictator + construction project = dumb shit”

[oblivion]

How in the world did they think this would only cost 200 billion? This is the first time I am hearing if it and my first thought was "2 trillion is probably a little low".

[heikkiaho]

in Europe, the first thing they teach you at school is that the distance between London and Birmingham is 170kms. Especially in Finland.

[BuddyMcNugget]

This is truly the dumbest construction idea in human history that actually has serious money behind it. What a waste.

[dogblessamerica]

One of the first principles of successful urban design is "don't build a city in a line in the middle of a fricking desert"

[DinmaSalitzey]

The only reason this entire project got approved is that the architect feared to lose his head by refusing but he probably knew it was unrealistic.

[tallsoldier]

I picture an architect drawing the first line of a cool design on a piece of paper and the prince being like woah stop right there, I love it.

[madcat]

My geography class had an assignment once, we had to build a road in Africa that connected roughly thirty countries, taking into account natural geography and political bounderies. I failed because I completely forgot, and just drew a line from Cairo to Johannesburg.
The Saudis too, failed this geography project.

[danielhandika]

they're so rich they forget that their wealth is not infinite

[HolyKoolaid]

Imagine: if Saudi Arabia actually empowered their citizens and spent 2 trillion on education and scientific research and development rather than flushing it down the toilet like this, they could become one of the most advanced and sophisticated countries in the world. Instead, their oil will run out and they will become a failed impoverished country in a matter of decades. My heart breaks for them.

[lordofdarkdudes]

"Why Saudi Arabia’s $2 Trillion Line City is Failing"
Next
"Why my gingerbread submarine failed"

[basedslav]

its called the line but you cant sniff it
total disappointment

[annalang]

The high speed train is so stupid. If you need to stop about every minute, due to the population densitily, on a singular line, the train will never be able to build up enough speed.
High speed trains make sense between cities, not as localised public transportation.

[drewmur]

This is what happens when you have no one that is willing to tell you "no" or that your ideas are bad.

[jorjethezebra]

"Ridiculous massive concept city in middle of desert with no nearby resources is failing"

Who is surprised by this?

[frankty]

Hundreds of Saudi citizens have been sent to jail for criticizing this nonsense, with the sentences ranging from 7-14 years..

[HippoMustache]

This sounds like something I tried to build in Sim City when I was 15. I thought cities with grid systems were ugly and tried to build everything off one road in a single straight line. I quickly realized that having a single road made traffic impossible and my citizens kept complaining about the commute. Someone should buy MBS a copy of Sim City 3000. I think that might help him a lot.

[Geopolica]

This will go down as the BIGGEST waste of money in history