JEDDAH, 5 December 2006 — Saudi Railway Organization (SRO) is planning to establish two more railway lines linking Jeddah and Jizan as well as Taif and Khamis Mushayt. The lines will be part of a massive railway expansion program. SRO has already signed an SR3.3 million contract with an engineering consultancy firm in order to conduct a feasibility study of the two railway lines.
Khaled Alyahya, president of SRO, emphasized his organization’s strategy of linking the Kingdom’s main cities with a railway network, adding that the Supreme Economic Council had approved three railway projects: A 950-km land bridge linking the Kingdom’s east and west; a Makkah-Madinah rail link; and the northern railway linking Riyadh with the Jalamid region.
He confirmed the signing of an agreement with Dar Al-Handasa for Designs and Technical Consultancy to conduct a feasibility study on the prospects of establishing railway lines linking Jeddah with the southwestern border city of Jizan and the western summer resort of Taif with Khamis Mushayt in the southern Asir region.
The land-bridge project, which is expected to change the region’s shipping patterns, has reached advanced stages of implementation. The Council of Ministers announced last month that the government would provide financial support to the project and 50 years operational rights to the consortium that wins the contract to build the 950-km railroad. The government’s assistance will be in the form of a grant to cover part of the project cost.
Four consortia comprising Saudi and foreign companies have qualified to present their offers to carry out the land bridge project, the main thrust of the Kingdom’s railway expansion project. The land bridge project involves construction of 950 km of new tracks between Riyadh and Jeddah and a 115-km line between Dammam and Jubail.
SRO has called upon specialized national and international companies to participate in the implementation of the Makkah-Madinah Rail Link (MMRL) project by offering their bids. The MMRL includes the construction of approximately 500 kilometers of new high-speed electrified railway lines between Jeddah and Makkah and between Jeddah and Madinah. It will be equipped with modern signaling and telecommunications systems.
Work on the North-South Railway Project (NSRP) is likely to start soon. Finance Minister Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf recently signed two contracts worth more than SR1.8 billion with Saudi firms to prepare the ground for building railroads.
