It sounds like something pulled straight out of a Philip K. Dick novel or a high-budget Ridley Scott flick. A mirrored skyscraper, 170 kilometers long, cutting across the desert. No cars. No streets. Just a massive, linear city meant to house nine million people. When Saudi Arabia first announced The Line, the internet collectively rolled its eyes. People called it a vaporware dream, a billionaire’s sandbox, or just a really expensive CGI render. But here’s the thing: they’ve actually started digging.
If you look at the satellite imagery from late 2024 and early 2025, the trench is there. It’s a massive scar across the Tabuk province. Thousands of trucks are moving millions of cubic meters of sand every single day. This isn’t just a concept anymore; it’s a construction site of terrifying proportions.
The scale is hard to wrap your head around. Imagine a city only 200 meters wide but taller than the Empire State Building, stretching from the coast of the Red Sea through mountain ranges and into desert valleys. It’s part of the broader Neom project, the crown jewel of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030. He wants to move the Saudi economy away from oil. He wants a tech hub that rivals Silicon Valley. Honestly, he wants to build the future before anyone else does.
Breaking Down the Physics of The Line
The biggest hurdle isn't the money—though the budget is rumored to be north of $500 billion. It's the physics. Building a continuous wall that long creates massive issues with thermal expansion. Materials grow and shrink when they get hot or cold. In the Saudi desert, the temperature swings are brutal. Engineers like Peter Cook, who has been consulted on the project, have pointed out that managing the airflow and the "canyon effect" inside a mirrored box is a nightmare.
How do you keep nine million people from baking? The plan relies on natural ventilation and a specific orientation to capture the breeze. Everything is designed to be reachable within a five-minute walk. No cars means no carbon emissions from transport, but it also means the internal high-speed rail has to be perfect. They’re promising a "spine" train that travels the full 170 kilometers in 20 minutes. That requires speeds of about 512 km/h. For context, that’s faster than almost any commercial maglev in operation today.
The Reality Check on 2024-2025 Progress
Let’s be real for a second. There have been reports of "scaling back." You might have seen the headlines claiming the project was being shortened to just 2.4 kilometers by 2030. While Bloomberg and other outlets reported on these shifts in the timeline, the Saudi government has maintained that the ultimate 170km goal remains.
It’s a classic move in massive infrastructure. You build a "Module 1" to prove the concept works, then you expand. By 2030, they expect to have about 300,000 people living in that first segment. It’s a pivot from "doing it all at once" to "let's make sure the toilets actually flush in the desert first."
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Why Environmentalists Are Worried
You can't talk about The Line without talking about the birds. And the sand. And the tribes.
The mirrored facade is supposed to reflect the desert and make the building "disappear" into the landscape. It looks cool in the renders. But for migratory birds, a 500-meter-high mirror is basically a giant invisible wall. Experts from organizations like the British Trust for Ornithology have raised concerns that this could be a death trap for millions of birds traveling between Europe and Africa.
Then there’s the human cost. The Huwaitat tribe has lived in this region for generations. Reports from human rights organizations, including ALQST and various UN experts, have highlighted the forced displacement of local residents to make room for the Neom footprint. This is the messy, dark side of "building the future" that marketing videos usually leave out.
The Tech Stack: AI as a Mayor
Neom isn't just a city; it’s a data engine. The plan is to use "Cognitive Cities" technology. In a normal "smart city," the tech is an add-on—think smart traffic lights or parking apps. In The Line, the AI is the foundation. It will monitor everything. Waste management, water usage, energy consumption, and even your health metrics.
- 100% Renewable Energy: The city claims it will run entirely on solar, wind, and hydrogen.
- Vertical Farming: To feed nine million people in a desert, they’re betting big on hydroponics and aeroponics built into the walls.
- Desalination: Taking salt out of Red Sea water without dumping toxic brine back into the ocean is the "holy grail" they're chasing.
Is This Just a "Gilded Cage"?
Critics like to call this a "horizontal skyscraper" that doubles as a surveillance state. Because everything is digital and the city is a single, enclosed structure, your privacy is basically non-existent. You’re always on the grid. For some, that’s a utopia of convenience where the AI knows you need milk before you do. For others, it’s a dystopian nightmare.
There's also the question of social stratification. Will The Line be a playground for the global elite while the people who actually run the city live in the shadows? This isn't just a Saudi question; it’s a question for every "city of the future" project from the Maldives to Austin, Texas.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Timeline
People think this is a "failed project" because it isn't finished yet. That’s wild. This is a project intended to take 50 years. The Great Wall of China wasn't built in a weekend. The Pyramids took decades. We’ve become so used to software updates that happen in seconds that we’ve forgotten how long it takes to move mountains of rock.
The project is currently divided into stages. Hidden Marina is the first big push. They’re excavating a massive hole that will eventually house ships inside the city. It’s insane. It’s also happening.
What to Watch for in 2026 and Beyond
If you’re tracking this, look for the first structural steel to rise. The "trenching" phase is the easy part. The hard part is the verticality. Once the first modular blocks of the city start going up, we’ll know if the engineering is actually sound.
Keep an eye on the "Green Hydrogen" plant at Neom too. It’s one of the largest in the world. If they can successfully power the construction and the early modules with zero-carbon energy, it changes the conversation from "vanity project" to "legitimate energy transition model."
Actionable Insights for the Curious
If you're looking to wrap your head around The Line or even considering the business opportunities there, here’s the ground truth.
1. Follow the Satellite Data, Not the PR.
Companies like Soar.Earth provide high-resolution satellite imagery of the Neom site. If you want to know if they’re actually building, stop reading the brochures and look at the dirt. You can see the progress of the Spine and the Hidden Marina excavation in real-time month-over-month.
2. Understand the "Cognitive City" Job Market.
Neom is vacuuming up talent in AI, robotics, and sustainable architecture. They aren't looking for traditional urban planners; they’re looking for systems engineers. If you're in the tech sector, the Neom "Topian" program and their recruitment hubs in London and Riyadh are where the actual movement is.
3. Watch the Water.
The success of the city hinges on "zero-liquid discharge" desalination. This is a breakthrough tech that would allow them to get fresh water without destroying the Red Sea’s coral reefs. If they crack this, the tech will be worth more than the city itself, as it could be sold to every drought-stricken coastal city on Earth.
4. Filter the Hype.
Don't get caught up in the "flying taxis" and "artificial moons" talk. Those are marketing hooks. Focus on the logistics: the rail system, the modular construction techniques, and the massive investment in the Port of Neom (Oxagon). That’s where the real money and the real future of the project live.
The Line is a gamble. It's a $500 billion bet that humanity can live in a way that doesn't destroy the planet. It might fail spectacularly. It might become a ghost town in the sand. But right now, it’s the most ambitious engineering project on the face of the Earth, and it’s way too early to count it out.