With officials now calling a 2018 deadline to complete a rail network linking the six GCC countries “not realistic,” transport ministers from the region are set to meet in Riyadh next month to hash out a new timeline, according to media reports.

Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, the UAE’s minister of infrastructure development, made the blunt assessment last week, according to Gulf News. The first phase of Qatar’s contribution to the network includes a 143km rail line to the Saudi Arabia border. Qatar Rail floated tenders for a company to oversee the project last summer.