Bombardier signs contracts with Talgo for high speed rail project in Saudi Arabia

Talgo, a member of the Al Shoula consortium, which is led by the Spanish railway operator RENFE, was recently contracted by the Saudi Railways Organization to build and operate a 450 km high-speed rail line connecting the cities of Mecca and Medina. The contracts are valued at approximately EUR281m ($367m).

Bombardier's supply scope for Talgo includes the BOMBARDIER MITRAC 3000 propulsion and control package, the BOMBARDIER FLEXX Power 350 high-speed bogies for the power heads of the
330 km/h trains and 12-year maintenance services for the Bombardier-built systems and components. The majority of Bombardier's manufacturing for the project will take place at its plant in Trápaga, Spain.

The technology is similar to that of the 46 AVE 102 and AVE 112 trains developed and manufactured for RENFE between 2001 and 2010. Bombardier has participated in the development of many of the world's leading high speed rail systems, including four different generations of TGV in France, the ICE trains used in Germany and the Netherlands, Italy's ETR 500 and V300ZEFIRO, Spain's AVE 102 and AVE 112, China's Xinshisu, the BOMBARDIER ZEFIRO family of high speed trains and the Acela in the USA.

"Saudi Arabia is presenting an excellent example of infrastructure development in order to meet expanding demand. This new agreement is another exciting step forward in our commitment to helping the Saudi market achieve its long-term urban transport goals," said Pier Prina Mello, Regional Sales Executive, Middle East and North Africa, Bombardier Transportation. "Supplying crucial technology and components to this prestigious project is very important to us, and we are confident we can bring the same level of expertise to other ongoing projects in the Gulf region."