RIYADH, 1 July 2005 — Russia’s transportation giant, Russian Railways, has been invited to participate in the multibillion riyal Saudi railroad project. Vladimir Yakunin, chief of Russian Railways, met with a Saudi delegation early this week, which proposed that the state-owned Russian company participate in the construction of the 1,200-km long railroad that would connect the Kingdom’s east and west coast regions.
A statement released by the Russian Railways after the talks said: “The Kingdom is interested in attracting Russian investment and directly involve Russian Railways in the project, because the company has vast experience in this sphere.”
The talks were held in Russia. Andrei Baklanov, Russian ambassador, welcomed this new development and said here yesterday that Russia would welcome any cooperation in this sector.
“Russia had huge experience in building railways and we had every right to expect fruitful cooperation with Saudi organizations in this area,” the ambassador said. Saudi Railway Organization has also invited Russian Railway’s experts to visit the Kingdom to familiarize them with the requirements and see the construction conditions.
A technical report, which will be used as the basis for an international tender for the project, will be ready in November this year.
According to Russian Railways, the company will determine to what extent it will participate in the railroad project only after its specialists have studied the technical report in detail.
The whole package of the SRO project involves construction of new tracks between Riyadh and Jeddah and another 115-km line between Dammam and Jubail as well as upgrading of the existing rail link between Riyadh and Dammam. Foreign companies have been given until mid-August to present their technical offers.