# Is The Line Really Dead? ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead.webp]] **Creator:** The B1M · **Published:** 2025-12-18 · **Length:** 30:40 · [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFVYgZMEOFg) > Caption source: YouTube **manual English (UK)** captions (`en-GB`), downloaded with **yt-dlp** on the first attempt with the default client. The track reads like the edited script and covers the whole video, including the closing AMD sponsor read and subscribe line. It keeps one stray script note at 6:52 ("Alt: To pull this off, an automated factory churned out..."), a few typos ("authotr", "accessto", "pumped out to see", "Steve Job's") and one garbled line at 11:10 ("water is currently being produced locally by tankers"), which the companion article gives as "concrete is being produced locally with water shipped in in tankers". TubeAlfred was not used (0 credits). **Companion article:** [Can Saudi Arabia still complete The LINE?](https://www.theb1m.com/video/can-the-line-be-built) on theb1m.com, by **Ian Parkin** (18 December 2025; "Video hosted by Fred Mills. This video contains paid promotion for AMD Threadripper Pro."). It follows the script closely, with image captions crediting **Google** (satellite imagery), **NEOM** (renders, outrigger beams, piled raft foundations) and **The B1M** (transport cross-section). It leaves out the LEGO demonstrations, the piles comparison with the Empire State Building and Burj Khalifa, the 16,000-pile and 8 m raft figures, both interviews, the human-rights section, Brasília, the cyberpunk background, Maraya, Apple Park and the CR450, and it softens "an ambitious leader with unchecked power" to "an ambitious national leadership". It also says the high-speed line will run from the airport "at the eastern extremity" to the western tip. Key facts were cross-checked against the [Financial Times](https://ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-line) investigation "End of The Line" (November 2025), [Ground Engineering](https://www.geplus.co.uk/news/neom-piling-progresses-on-the-lines-marina-20-03-2025/) (piling) and [Arabian Business](https://www.arabianbusiness.com/industries/construction/neom-chief-reveals-first-details-of-car-free-vertical-city-the-line-report) (Denis Hickey's Davos presentation on cooling). YouTube chapters are used as section headings and line up with the captions. Screenshots come from the 720p stream (format 136). Host: **Fred Mills**. Interviewees: **Hiten Samtani** (on-screen caption "Founder, TEN31 Media") and **Chris Hables Gray** ("Author"). Paid promotion: **AMD Threadripper Pro 9000 WX Series** (4:40–5:56, plus a closing reminder). The B1M's own plugs: **Brick Borrow** (thanked in the description for supplying "(a lot) of LEGO bricks"), Fred's book ***Mega Builds*** (pre-order), **Get Construction Talking** and *The World's Best Construction Podcast*. Additional footage and images (from the description): Google, Giles Pendleton, NEOM, NBC News, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Uhstudio, Discovery, Bitschnau Gleit- und Schalungstechnik, CBS, BBC, Arquivo Nacional, Pan American World Airways, Warner Bros, Toho, CD Projekt Red, CRRC and Saudi Vision 2030. On-screen clips include *Akira* and *Blade Runner 2049*, and a Business Insider headline about death sentences for tribe members. ## Outline ### 0:00 It's On - **0:01** "Look at this photo of the Arabian desert and you'll see that one of the most ambitious construction projects in history... is on." - **0:10** A **200 m wide trench** runs from the **Hejaz mountains** to the **Gulf of Aqaba**. Part of it holds the first portion of what will be **the biggest set of foundations ever built**, and now that the concrete has set, the first **vertical structures** are about to emerge. - **0:30** "The thing everybody said would never be built, could never be built... is being built. Or is it?" - **0:39** Hiten Samtani: "I believe he said we're gonna start going vertical hopefully at the end of this year. Generally, in real estate, **hope is not a strategy**." - **0:46** For every sign of progress there are **budget issues**, work "grinding to a halt", and a news clip: Saudi Arabia "has asked consulting firms to conduct a **strategic review** of The Line". There are even rumours that the whole thing has been **cancelled**. - **1:02** "**2026 will be make or break** for The Line." Deadlines need to be met, and progress will be "measured in **height, not hype**". - **1:14** Social-media clips ("Is this idea even realistic?", "That is absolutely insane!"). There is a country whose future depends on it and a leader who has staked his entire reputation on it. **Mohammed bin Salman**: "They say it can't be done. They can keep saying that and we can keep proving them wrong." - **1:30** "So, will it ever be built? Let's find out." ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0003.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0024.webp]] ### 1:38 What is The LINE? - **1:42** The Line is Saudi Arabia's plan for a massive **linear city**. When, "or if", it is complete, it will be the capital of **NEOM**, a vast new region in the country's north-west dreamed up by Crown Prince **Mohammed bin Salman**. - **1:55** It forms part of **Vision 2030**, his plan to wean the country off **oil dependency** by 2030. - **2:09** The numbers: **200 m wide**, **500 m tall**, running **170 km** across the desert. - **2:22** Fred can't get his head around something that big, so he builds a **LEGO model** only two bricks high, **0.003%** of the real size. At that scale a model **Empire State Building** is dwarfed in height, "but just look how far it stretches". - **2:57** "How the hell do you build something like this?" ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0110.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0150.webp]] ### 3:05 How Do You Build The LINE? - **3:08** The Line crosses wildly varying terrain: **hard mountain rock**, **soft open desert** and **salty coastal plains**. Building across all of it needs a uniform, stable footing. - **3:25** Bean-bag demonstration: **quaternary deposits** are loose, uncompacted material, "pretty terrible for putting any kind of weight through", and lie under much of the site. Below them is **bedrock**. - **3:59** The answer is a **piled raft foundation**: a solid **slab** at ground level, with the building's weight carried down through **piles** onto the bedrock rather than through the poor material. - **4:29** "Spoiler alert: it's most definitely not" simple. Designing foundations of this size takes a ton of calculation. - **4:40** *Sponsor segment:* the **AMD Threadripper Pro 9000 WX Series**, with up to **96 cores** and a large **L3 cache** for simulation, rendering and modelling, plus support for **generative AI** workloads (to 5:56). - **5:59** Pile numbers and depths vary with building size and soil. The **Empire State Building** has **55 piles** going **16 m** into Manhattan bedrock. The **Burj Khalifa** sits on **194 piles** sunk **43 m**. - **6:21** The Line dwarfs anything seen before: phase one has seen **over 16,000 piles** drilled **up to 70 m deep**, nearly **1,000 km of drilling** and **3.5 million cubic metres of concrete**, topped by an **8 m thick raft**. - **6:47** An **automated factory** turns out tens of thousands of **32 m rebar cages** to reinforce each pile. **GPS-guided drilling rigs** bore the holes, and a **biodegradable liquid** stops them collapsing before the concrete goes in. - **7:11** Close to the sea, the site also needs protecting from **highly saline groundwater**, which could rust the cages and corrode the piles. - **7:25** The fix is **the world's largest de-watering system**: **500 wells**, each with a pump at the bottom, moving **90,000 cubic metres an hour** to a **settlement pond** for checking, then filtering and pumping it out to sea through discharge pipes. - **7:49** Phase one foundations are nearly complete, so the next milestone is **going vertical**. - **7:58** On a typical skyscraper that means the **core**, the building's backbone, formed by pouring concrete into a mould pushed up by **hydraulic jacks** (a **slipform**). - **8:16** The twist, explained with more LEGO: The Line is a city, "a framework, not a building". Instead of one 170 km core it has **thousands of cores**, each built like any other, supporting the **primary decks**. - **8:47** The decks are the main avenues and the cores the cross streets: "like they're taking **Manhattan's grid**, except imagine it folded up and stacked vertically". Schools, hospitals, homes and transport will all sit within this framework. - **9:10** What is under construction now: **two rows of 500 m towers**. Phase one will see **4.8 million tonnes** of **steel outrigger beams** hoisted to carry **five decks**. - **9:22** On skyscrapers the steelwork and cladding follow the core up the building, which is why **2026** should bring fast, visible progress. ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0200.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0245.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0385.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0410.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0455.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0520.webp]] ### 9:38 Will The LINE Really Work? - **9:43** "That is the billion dollar, sorry, **trillion dollar** question." - **9:48** **Concrete** at scale is incredibly complex: too slow and it sets unevenly, too fast and the ingredients **split**, too wet and it's **brittle**, too dry and "it'll end up like **Swiss cheese**". It needs total consistency for long periods. - **10:11** Millions of tonnes have already been poured, "a solid track record", but on the **coast**, with supply lines. The rest of the city runs into a vast **hinterland** with no local materials and almost no **water**. - **10:36** The plan starts at **The Oxagon**, another NEOM megaproject, where a huge **desalination plant** would pump billions of litres of water to **reservoirs** along the city. They would feed a **USD $190M** network of **concrete factories** producing **20,000 cubic metres a day**. - **10:58** The catch: "None of this currently exists." Work on Oxagon only began in **mid-2025**, the concrete factory is still some way off, and water is currently being **trucked in by tanker**, "by no means a scalable solution". - **11:16** There are also unconfirmed reports that the **desalination plant** has quietly been **scrapped**. - **11:23** It matters because the **NEOM stadium**, to be suspended **350 m** up inside The Line, is due to host games at the **2034 FIFA World Cup**, "games that people are gonna be buying tickets for". - **11:42** "By this stage I'd expect to see much more evidence of **scalable activity**." Instead, at the end of 2025, it looks like a project "trying to build something, anything, just to gain a bit of momentum and prove people wrong". ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0600.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0650.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0690.webp]] ### 12:01 What is Actually Being Built at The LINE? - **12:06** Seeing the 170 km cutting, you might think they are building the whole thing, or at least a quarter. No: only **phase one**, a mere **2.4 km**, **less than 1.5%** of the structure. "You might feel a bit short-changed by that. I know I am." - **12:50** The strategy: phase one holds the city's biggest, most spectacular **anchor assets**. - **13:03** Hiten Samtani: an anchor asset attracts investment and development once it is finished. His example is Manhattan's **High Line**, derelict elevated rail tracks turned into a public park, which made the surrounding area one of the most expensive and coveted in Manhattan. - **13:27** The whole structure is divided into **800 m modules**, the neighbourhoods or city blocks of The Line. Phase one is **three modules** near the western end. - **13:42** It includes a **man-made marina** able to host the world's biggest **cruise ships**, the **46,000-seat NEOM stadium** and, hanging below it, a vast **chandelier** welcoming people in. - **13:55** Samtani: NEOM will fund and build a set of anchor assets around which "the next phase will organically take place". - **14:10** A sophisticated strategy based on industry standards, but it doesn't fit "a 170 km long city in the desert" that is meant to tear up the rule book. "For an ambitious leader with **unchecked power**", it's exactly the project to capture the world's imagination, "but for everyone else, it's a huge risk." - **14:47** Samtani: development is "a dollars and cents game, or in this case a **riyals and halalas** game", but this project is part construction, part symbol, and **MBS** is the one everyone answers to. Is he told the truth? Is anyone strong enough to push back on "the prince's more fantastical visions"? Each idea ("I want this to curve this way") can mean **billions in overruns** and years of delay. - **15:37** The Line has faced intense criticism over its **human cost** ("Homes, schools, hospitals, wiped off the map"), with allegations of **modern-day slavery** on site and orders to **execute tribespeople** who refused to relocate. **NEOM and the Saudi government vehemently deny** them. - **16:00** It has been "very difficult slash impossible" for The B1M or any journalist to get real access. "We reached out to **dozens of people** involved in The Line for this film and almost nobody would talk to us, partly through **fear of reprisal**." - **16:27** As Saudi Arabia tries to become a more progressive society under Vision 2030, it will have to learn to deal with the **free press** beyond its borders. - **16:43** Samtani: people asking why **costs have tripled** or why things changed are running into a clash of cultures, dealing with "a place that is used to not having to answer to anybody". ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0735.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0790.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0830.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t0960.webp]] ### 16:59 Can You Build a City From Scratch? - **17:03** If it gets built, The Line won't be the first showpiece city built from scratch. - **17:09** **Brasília**, founded in **1960**, replaced **Rio de Janeiro** as Brazil's capital. It was also built somewhere seen as remote and inhospitable, to a plan like nothing anyone had seen. - **17:26** Designed in the **1950s jet age**, it was meant to show a country reborn, so it was laid out "like an **aeroplane**": government in the **cockpit**, housing on the **wings**, a military district at the **tail**, and the fuselage as a **monumental axis**. - **17:55** The Line is also a forward-looking national symbol, but it takes its inspiration from **science fiction**. - **18:08** **Chris Hables Gray** (author): "Out of the blue, I got an email from a Saudi Arabian woman" inviting him to give input on The Line's **aesthetics**. "He was very interested in **cyberpunk**." - **18:29** Gray: The Line seems based partly on **Snow Crash**, a novel whose virtual world is built around "one long street, an almost infinite virtual street". The cyberpunk look is everywhere, from video games to *Blade Runner*. - **18:52** Gray was one of a handful of people asked for background research. He gathered images and quotes from cyberpunk and related "punk" genres, with a focus on **urban planning**. The prince attended an exhibition of mostly "big images", "chose what he liked", and these were "theoretically incorporated" into the plans. - **19:35** Some of the images Gray shared show a clear link with The Line's early concept art (clips of *Akira* and *Blade Runner 2049*). ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1030.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1065.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1105.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1140.webp]] ### 19:45 The LINE: Can You Put a Mirror in the Desert? - **19:51** The most video-game-like feature is the **mirror finish** over the whole exterior. - **19:59** Ordinary **reflective glass** is made by **sputter coating**, depositing metal onto glass through a highly charged gas. It scales well but is slightly translucent and reflects only about **40%** of light. - **20:25** Compare **Maraya**, built in **2019** and thought to be a key inspiration for The Line. It was first clad in **polished metal sheets**, which quickly spoiled in the sandy environment. - **20:41** A perfect mirror finish needs real mirrors, but in desert heat the **lamination** can fail and the **silver coating** can peel. An entirely new type of mirror was developed. - **21:00** The glass had to be **tempered**, but tempered glass can't be cut and the mirror coating can only go on after tempering, so the whole production line was **reversed**: cut to size first, then heat-treat, then coat. - **21:32** Along with silver, the mirrors were coated with **copper** to resist intense **solar radiation**. The result reflects **over 90%** of light and withstands some of the harshest conditions on Earth. - **21:50** "Here's a big one: **The Line will not be air conditioned**." The lack of outdoor cooling was confirmed by The Line's **Chief Development Officer** earlier in 2025. Homes and offices can have as much air con as you like, but outside you're at the ambient temperature "of the desert". - **22:17** The **urban heat island effect** makes it worse: London can be up to **5 degrees** hotter than the surrounding countryside because of its concrete, and The Line will have "a lot of concrete... and steel... and glass". - **22:41** All we have so far is an assurance that it has been modelled. NEOM argues the **mirror walls** will reflect so much light the city won't absorb much heat, and the glass will be "**breathable**". Whether that means vents or a new material, "we just don't know. But it doesn't exactly fill you with optimism." ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1200.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1235.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1300.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1335.webp]] ### 23:11 Life in The LINE - **23:15** Life will mostly be lived within **modules**, each with all the basic amenities within a short walk, an extension of the **15-minute city** seen in **Copenhagen** or **Zurich**. "But for that to be possible, you've got to get around without... melting." - **23:47** "Apparently, we've all been doing cities wrong." **London** has about **8.6 million** people, just shy of the **9 million** who could live in the finished Line, yet it sprawls across much of south-east England. NEOM's point is that it represents the old, unplanned, inefficient way of building cities. - **24:21** The key is getting rid of **cars**: they take up space, crash, need parking and don't carry many people. ("Cars may be a large part of why Saudi Arabia is rich, but this is looking to the future.") - **24:41** The transport stack: at the bottom, a **high-speed railway** linking the **international airport** to the western tip, supposedly in **20 minutes**, faster than any train in existence. Above it, the **General Mass Transit**, a suburban-style rail line stopping every **1.5 km**. Between the **5 primary decks**, a **light rail** network stopping every **100 m**, with **escalators and lifts** between levels. - **25:14** Is the linear shape really more efficient? Compare **Apple Park**, "Steve Jobs's last great creation": one simple structure housing everything, but a **circle**, with no hierarchy and no corner offices, where the furthest you ever travel is the **diameter**. - **26:02** In The Line you can only go **left or right**. In a radial city you can head in any direction, so the average journey is always shorter. - **26:15** The 20-minute, 170 km claim: China's **CR450AF**, the world's fastest train (still in development), has a top speed of **450 km/h**, so even it couldn't do the trip in 20 minutes, before allowing for acceleration and braking. - **26:47** The high-speed line will have only **two stations**, so it's no use to people in the middle of the city, who are left with a suburban train stopping every 1.5 km, "roughly every mile. How efficient is that?" ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1410.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1450.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1500.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1590.webp]] ### 27:02 Can The LINE be built? - **27:08** The Line and NEOM were meant to rewire the Saudi economy by the end of the decade under Vision 2030. "That clock is ticking", and it isn't even clear phase one will be finished by then. - **27:27** A **Financial Times** investigation a few months earlier claimed top executives were privately admitting the project was **impossible**. - **27:40** When it was announced in **2021**, The Line was so bold that it made headlines worldwide, forced a debate about what cities should look like and inspired kids. It was "almost confrontational", and every drone shot and satellite image was presented like a **victory lap**. - **28:14** Five years in, it really needs to show progress. 2026 is touted as the big year, and "if that doesn't happen then all bets are off". Saudi Arabia has unchecked power and vast resources, but "it's not up to just them any more". - **28:44** Samtani: it all comes down to money. The purse is held by one of the richest men on the planet, but fully realising MBS's vision will take more than that purse holds, so it needs **private markets**, **external capital partners** and **foreign investors**, who want "more realistic assumptions". - **29:09** Even if built, will it be **livable**, a place people want to live rather than just visit? - **29:19** Gray: in 10 years there's "a very tiny chance, **10% maybe**," of some facilities and "a hunk of The Line" that rich people visit to marvel at, with promises of more. "I think more likely, **most of it will be abandoned**." - **29:42** If it gets built it will be one of the greatest things ever built, "the modern-day equivalent of the **pyramids**, but that's a big if". With its roots in cyberpunk, the next year will decide whether it stays **science fiction** or becomes **science fact**. - **30:09** Closing sponsor reminder for the **AMD Threadripper Pro** line-up, and a subscribe request for "the definitive video channel for construction". ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1650.webp]] ![[images/Is-The-Line-Really-Dead-t1725.webp]] ## Things mentioned ### The Line and NEOM - **The Line**: a linear city **200 m wide**, **500 m tall** and **170 km long**, for up to **9 million** people, planned as the capital of **NEOM** in north-west Saudi Arabia (Tabuk province). The trench runs from the **Hejaz mountains** to the **Gulf of Aqaba**. - **Phase one**: **2.4 km** (under 1.5% of the length), **three 800 m modules** near the western end, with a cruise-ship **marina**, the **46,000-seat NEOM stadium** suspended **350 m** up (a planned **2034 FIFA World Cup** venue), and a hanging **chandelier**. Not in the video: NEOM calls this stretch the **Hidden Marina** (modules 45–47, for more than 200,000 residents), and The Line's chief operating officer **Giles Pendleton** reported in March 2025 that each module uses more than **5,500 piles** up to 70 m deep, with **3.5 million m³** of concrete across phase one ([Ground Engineering](https://www.geplus.co.uk/news/neom-piling-progresses-on-the-lines-marina-20-03-2025/)). - **The Oxagon**: NEOM's port and industrial city, the planned site of a **desalination plant** (possibly scrapped, per unconfirmed reports) feeding reservoirs and a **USD $190M** network of concrete factories (**20,000 m³ a day**). - **NEOM stadium** and the **2034 FIFA World Cup** (Saudi Arabia). - **Vision 2030**: Mohammed bin Salman's plan to reduce Saudi dependence on oil. - The **strategic review** of The Line by consulting firms (news clip). - **Financial Times** investigation: executives privately calling the project impossible. Not in the video: the FT's "End of The Line" (November 2025) reported at least **USD $50BN** spent, an internal cost estimate that rose from **$1.6tn** to about **$4.5tn**, a first phase cut from **16 km** (20 modules) to **2.4 km**, and a planner's account that the crown prince wanted a 20-minute airport-to-coast rail link after "somebody told" him it was possible ([FT](https://ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-line)). - No outdoor air conditioning. Not in the video: this was NEOM Chief Development Officer **Denis Hickey** at Davos in early 2025, who said "it's not air conditioned, so we're not looking to put refrigerated [air] through the common areas" and that the "breathable" glass and air pumped through the primary deck would keep it comfortable ([Arabian Business](https://www.arabianbusiness.com/industries/construction/neom-chief-reveals-first-details-of-car-free-vertical-city-the-line-report)). ### Engineering and construction - **Piled raft foundation**: piles through loose **quaternary deposits** to **bedrock**, topped by a raft (an **8 m** thick raft at The Line) - Phase one piling: **16,000+ piles**, up to **70 m** deep, about **1,000 km** of drilling, **3.5 million m³** of concrete - **Automated rebar-cage factory** (32 m cages), **GPS-guided drilling rigs**, **biodegradable support fluid** - **De-watering**: 500 wells, 90,000 m³ an hour, **settlement pond**, discharge pipes to sea; protects steel and concrete from **saline groundwater** - **Cores** and **slipform** construction with hydraulic jacks; **thousands of cores** carrying **five primary decks**; **4.8 million tonnes** of **steel outrigger beams** - **Concrete** consistency problems (setting unevenly, segregation, brittleness, voids) - **Reflective glass** by **sputter coating** (about 40% reflection) vs Maraya's **tempered**, **silver- and copper-coated mirrors** (over 90%) - **Urban heat island effect** - Transport: **high-speed rail** (20-minute claim), **General Mass Transit** (stops every 1.5 km), **light rail** (stops every 100 m), escalators and lifts ### Comparisons and references - **Empire State Building**: 55 piles, 16 m deep (video figures); used for scale in the LEGO model - **Burj Khalifa**: 194 piles, 43 m deep - Manhattan's **grid** (decks as avenues, cores as cross streets) and the **High Line** (anchor asset) - **Brasília** (1960), the aeroplane-shaped capital that replaced **Rio de Janeiro**. Not in the video: planned by **Lúcio Costa**, with main buildings by **Oscar Niemeyer**. - **Maraya** (AlUla, 2019), the mirror-clad building thought to have inspired The Line. Not in the video: it is a concert hall and events venue. - **Apple Park** (Cupertino), Steve Jobs's circular campus - **CR450AF** (China Railway / **CRRC**), the world's fastest train in development, 450 km/h top speed. Not in the video: covering 170 km in 20 minutes would need an average of **510 km/h**. - The **15-minute city** (Copenhagen, Zurich); **London** (8.6 million people; up to 5 degrees warmer than the countryside) - The **pyramids** (closing comparison) ### Science fiction and pop culture - **Cyberpunk** as an inspiration for The Line - ***Snow Crash*** (the novel with an "almost infinite" virtual street). Not in the video: by **Neal Stephenson**, 1992. - ***Blade Runner*** (mentioned) and on-screen clips of ***Blade Runner 2049*** and ***Akira***; footage credits to **Warner Bros**, **Toho** and **CD Projekt Red** (Cyberpunk 2077) - Social-media clips reacting to The Line ("That is absolutely insane!") ### Figures - Size: **200 m** wide, **500 m** tall, **170 km** long, up to **9 million** people - LEGO model: **0.003%** scale - Phase one: **2.4 km**, **3 × 800 m** modules, **16,000+** piles to **70 m**, **3.5M m³** concrete, **8 m** raft, **4.8M tonnes** of outrigger steel, **5** decks - De-watering: **500** wells, **90,000 m³/hour** - Concrete supply: **USD $190M** factories, **20,000 m³/day** - NEOM stadium: **46,000** seats, **350 m** up, **2034** World Cup - Mirrors: about **40%** (sputter-coated glass) vs **over 90%** (Maraya) - Transport: **20 minutes** end to end; stops every **1.5 km** and **100 m**; CR450 **450 km/h** - Gray's odds: "**10% maybe**" ### People and organisations - **Fred Mills** (host); **Ian Parkin** (companion article author) - **Hiten Samtani** (founder, TEN31 Media); **Chris Hables Gray** (author) - **Mohammed bin Salman** (Crown Prince, NEOM chairman) - **NEOM**; the Saudi government; Saudi Vision 2030 - The Line's **Chief Development Officer** (not named in the video; Denis Hickey) - **Financial Times**; **Business Insider** (on-screen headline); NBC News, Bloomberg, CBS, BBC, Discovery (footage) - **Steve Jobs** (Apple Park) - **AMD** (sponsor) - Footage: Google, Giles Pendleton, NEOM, NBC News, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Uhstudio, Discovery, Bitschnau Gleit- und Schalungstechnik, CBS, BBC, Arquivo Nacional, Pan American World Airways, Warner Bros, Toho, CD Projekt Red, CRRC, Saudi Vision 2030 ### Places - **Saudi Arabia** (NEOM, The Oxagon, Hejaz mountains, Gulf of Aqaba, AlUla, Riyadh); **Brazil** (Brasília, Rio de Janeiro); **USA** (Manhattan, Cupertino); **UK** (London, south-east England); **Denmark** (Copenhagen); **Switzerland** (Zurich); **UAE** (Dubai, Burj Khalifa); **China** (CR450) ### The B1M and sponsor - **AMD Threadripper Pro 9000 WX Series** (paid promotion: up to 96 cores, large L3 cache, generative AI support) - **Brick Borrow** (LEGO borrowing service; supplied the bricks for the models) - ***Mega Builds*** (Fred's book, pre-order link in the description) - **Get Construction Talking**; *The World's Best Construction Podcast* ## Biographies ### Fred Mills Co-founder and on-camera host of **The B1M**. He presents this long-form status check from a dark studio, using LEGO models and a bean bag to explain the foundations, cores and decks. He gives The Line credit for its engineering but is openly sceptical of its schedule, phasing, climate and transport claims. ### Ian Parkin Writer at **The B1M** and author of the companion article *[Can Saudi Arabia still complete The LINE?](https://www.theb1m.com/video/can-the-line-be-built)* (18 December 2025). It follows the script closely but drops the interviews, the cyberpunk and Brasília sections, and the Maraya and Apple Park comparisons. ### Hiten Samtani Real-estate journalist, shown on screen as **founder of TEN31 Media**. Not in the video: he was previously an editor at the real-estate publication *The Real Deal*. Here he explains anchor assets with the High Line example, argues that NEOM is "part construction project and part symbol" where nobody can push back on the crown prince, describes the clash between NEOM and the foreign press, and says the project will need foreign investors who want realistic assumptions. ### Chris Hables Gray American academic and author who has written widely on cyberpunk, cyborgs and technology. Not in the video: his books include *The Cyborg Handbook* (as editor) and *Cyborg Citizen*. He says he was invited by email to supply cyberpunk imagery and quotes as background research for The Line, links it to the endless street of *Snow Crash*, and estimates only about a 10% chance of anything more than a partly abandoned showpiece in 10 years. ### Mohammed bin Salman Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia and chairman of NEOM, who launched The Line in 2021 as part of Vision 2030. He appears in clips ("They say it can't be done... we can keep proving them wrong"). The video presents him as a leader "who's staked his entire reputation on it", and its interviewees question whether anyone can push back on his visions. ### Steve Jobs Apple co-founder (1955–2011). Fred calls **Apple Park**, the ring-shaped Cupertino headquarters, "Steve Jobs's last great creation" and uses its circular plan as a counterpoint to The Line's linear one.