Saudi rail projects build up steam

Contracts for a north-south railway primarily to serve new aluminium and phosphate industries have already been awarded.

A decision on an award for the provision of a high speed train service which would carry pilgrims from Jeddah to Makkah in half an hour and Madina in two hours is also due.

In addition SRO is planning lines to link Jeddah with Jizan as well as Taif and Khamis Mushayt with a feasibility study now under way.

Another indication of tangible progress has come with The Council of Ministers recent decision to form a Railways Authority to licence rail transport providers and to define standards and technical conditions for the use of rail facilities by operators. The new independent authority will have legal status and its own budget.

Landbridge

The go-ahead for the $5bn Jeddah-Dammam 'Landbridge' project has been delayed by a range of financial and legal issues including disputes over the ownership of land on which the railway is due to be built.

Four groups have submitted bids for the project which involves constructing and operating a 945km railway from Jeddah Islamic Port to the Gulf coast and a 115km railway from Dammam Port to the industrial city of Jubail.

Essentially the railway will make it possible for containers to be carried between Jeddah and Dammam in 18 hours instead of taking four to five days by sea around the Arabian peninsula. The route is expected to draw off containers currently transited through other Gulf ports.

The line is expected to be used by double-stack diesel-powered trains able to carry 400 containers. These will operate at speeds up to 120km/hour with passenger trains travelling twice as fast.

Assets of the Saudi Railways Authority and its 1,600 staff will be transferred to the new concessionaire. A successful bidder is likely to operate the lines for at least 30 years and take over the SRO's existing two lines linking Dammam, Riyadh and Hofuf. However, passenger services are expected to be awarded to a separate operator after completion of the project.

State-owned Russian Railways meanwhile has submitted lowest bid to construct the fourth and final section of the Kingdom's north-south minerals railway. The project involves a 500km section from Al-Zabirah junction to Riyadh's King Khaled international airport.

Transport cargo and people

Contracts for the first three sections of the 2,400km long railway were awarded in 2007. Minister of Finance and Public Investment Fund (PIF) chairman Ibrahim Al Assaf says that the goal is transport some four million tonnes of phosphate and bauxite and two million passengers a year, facilitating movement of traffic between the Kingdom's eastern, northern and central regions.

The PIF is also due to issue tenders soon for the provision of signalling, telecommunications, rolling stock as well as operations and maintenance of the railway.

See also:
GCC countries tracking new transport models
RTA adds new lines to Dubai Metro