Gulf Construction Online - Saudis award $1.8bn high-speed rail contract

Regional News

Saudis award $1.8bn high-speed rail contract

01 March 2009

A CONSORTIUM of Saudi, French and Chinese firms has won the SR6.8 billion ($1.8 billion) civil works contract for a high-speed railway to be built between Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia.

The Al Rajhi construction group together with France’s Alstom and China Railway Construction Corporation won the contract, an official of the Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO) said.
The civil works contract is the first stage of a $6-billion plan to build a 444-km-long high-speed railroad linking the two holy cities through the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.
Called the Haramain Express Train, the project aims to ferry hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Makkah and Madinah at speeds reaching 360 km per hour.
The train will cover the distance between Jeddah and Makkah in 30 minutes while the trip between Jeddah and Madinah will take approximately two hours.
The group’s works will include bridges, viaducts, retaining walls, subways, shafts, tunnels, embankments, ground structures, covered ways, utility service structures, fencing, and more, he said.
The second phase of the project will involve construction of stations.
Station works will include electrical and mechanical infrastructure, communications, ticketing, fire protection, lifts and escalators, power supply, and more.
The stations at Makkah and Madinah will be state-of-the-art inside landmark buildings, according to reports.
The Haramain railway is expected to boost Saudi Arabia’s tourism infrastructure, while alleviating traffic congestion on the roads particularly during Haj and Umrah pilgrimage seasons.
The project is due for completion by 2013.