7 April 2009

JEDDAH: The North-South Railway linking the Kingdom’s northern mineral belt with Riyadh and the industrial city of Jubail will be ready by next year for the freight movement, an informed source said. It will be another two years before passengers can use the railway.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Musaed Economic City in Hail will be linked with the new railway system as well as with railways in other Gulf countries, Jordan and Syria.

“Hail will make maximum use of railway projects by encouraging our youth to take up jobs in railways as well as in mineral projects,” said Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saad, deputy governor of Hail.

Mansour Al-Maiman, secretary-general of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and chairman of Saudi Railway Company, said work on the railroad was progressing well.

He said the passenger railway linking Riyadh, Sudair, Qassim and Hail would be floated for tenders within a few days, adding that the work on the project would be completed by 2012. He confirmed reports that the railway would be linked later with those in neighboring countries.

The Kingdom’s railway expansion envisages 3,900 km of new track. In addition to the Landbridge Project linking the Kingdom’s east with its west, two other major new rail projects are moving closer. These include a 450-km high-speed Haramain railway to link Jeddah with Makkah and Madinah.

The 2,400-km North-South Railway is given priority due to its importance to industrial development. Sponsored by the Public Investment Fund, this rail line is integral to planned phosphate and bauxite mining projects in the north of the country that will link up with processing and smelters on the Gulf coast.

Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf, chairman of PIF Board of Directors, signed a supervision agreement for the execution of the North-South Railway project with Louis Berger Group Inc. of America, SYSTRA, Canarail and Saudi Consolidated Engineering Co.

The project extends from Haditha point on the Saudi border with Jordan to Riyadh, passing through Jouf, Hail, Qassim and Sudair. The railway will connect the northern region (Al-Jalamid belt) to the Hail province (Az-Zubaira) allowing the transportation of phosphates and bauxite to Ras Azzur in the eastern part of the Kingdom and then to Jubail.

The contract valued at SR512.87 million includes on-site construction supervision, provision of technical support to the manufacture and supply of rolling stock, passenger stations, shipment yards, detailed design of signaling and control systems.

The North-South Railway is of vital strategic importance to the national economy, as the processing of phosphates, which exists in commercial quantities, will place the Kingdom second internationally in their export, besides accommodating fertilizer industry technology. It will also increase oil, agricultural and industrial products transportation, as well as goods and passengers.

The 950-km landbridge will link Jeddah with the existing Dammam-Riyadh railway. It will have a significant impact on freight traffic with containers able to transit from the Gulf to the Red Sea in 24 hours avoiding a sea voyage around the Arabian Peninsula. Mada Industrial and Commercial Investments and Binladin Group from Saudi Arabia are vying with Kuwait’s Agility (formerly PWC Logistics) and France’s Bouygues Travaux to gain the BOT contract.

Abdul Aziz Al-Hoqail, president of Saudi Railway Organization (SRO), said special panels have completed reviewing financial and technical offers of the bidders. “The matter of endorsing the winner of the contract is left for higher authorities,” he said. According to a report carried by Al-Watan Arabic daily, the consortium led by Binladin Group is the lowest bidder. The winner of the contract should inform the government within a year how they will finance the project.