Riyadh metro station: Luxurious rail hub King of Saudi Arabia has ordered to be built in just four years

Commuters on London Underground will no doubt cast an envious eye at these pictures of what will shortly become the world's most luxurious metro system.

Looking more like the inside of five-star hotel, the proposed network, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will boast a space age design featuring marbled walkways, gold-plated walls and, naturally in one of the hottest places on earth, air conditioning.

The facade will apparently be designed to let in light while keeping out the harsh desert sun, while the overall shape is meant to recall the country's wind-blown sand dunes.

Lap of luxury: With marbled walkways, raised escalators and gold-plated walls, this proposed new metro station on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is a far cry from underground railway stations in other world cities

Sleek: An aerial view of the new station, the design of which is based on Saudi Arabia's wind-swept sand dunes

Luxury: The design will apparently let in the sun rays but air conditioning will keep commuters cool in what is one of the world's hottest countries

Amazingly, the new six-line network has been ordered to be completed by the ruling King Abdullah in just four years - the amount of time it took builders in New York to renovate just one station.

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What will frustrate weary London commuters even more is that the main feature of the new system, a three-way interchange at the city's busiest station, has been designed by half-British architect Zaha Hadid, who has been behind a string of developments around the world.

The London-based designer, who is half-Iraqi, was the brains behind developments in the Capital's Hoxton Square and Eaton Place, as well as international projects in cities including New York, Singapore and Dubai.

Daily grind? Hardly, as the spacious, marbled walkways will allow commuters plenty of room to get about

Quick-fire: King Abdullah has ordered the new network and renovated stations to be completed in just four years

Talented: Zaha Hadid, the architect behind the scheme, is based in London as has helped design a number of buildings around the world