First contract awarded for Makkah-Medinah railway

The railway will cut pilgrims' journey time to half an hour. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AFP/Getty Images)

The contract for the first phase of railway infrastructure in Saudi Arabia has been awarded to China Railway Construction Corp (CRCC) along with two local firms including Al Arab Contracting.

The contractors will be responsible for building ground and civil engineering works, part of the 450 km high-speed railway worth US $1.8 billion (SR6.7 billion), connecting Islam’s two holy sites, the Red Sea port of Jeddah to Makkah and Medinah.

Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund chairman and finance minister and Jabara Al-Seraisry, transport minister signed the agreement with Abdullah Sulaiman Al-Rajhi, chairman of the Al-Rajhi Alliance.

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“We consider it a major project in the history of transport in the Kingdom,” Al-Seraisry told Arab News. “The signing ceremony is the result of great efforts made by the officials of the Saudi Railway Organisation (SRO) and the Public Investment Fund, which has played a vital role in screening bidders for the project.”

He added that the agreement for subsequent phases would be signed during the course of the implementation of the first phase. His ministry is studying a report submitted by a team that visited the United States, Japan and South Korea recently to choose the best trains to suit the Kingdom’s requirements.

The first phase of the project will include preparing the ground, constructing bridges, culverts and tunnels for laying track.

While the second phase will include, track laying, electrification, power supply, installing communication and signaling systems and deploying rolling stock.

The project is intended to ease congestion during Hajj, the annual pilgrimage of three million Muslims to Makkah. It is anticipated that the railway will cut the five hour car journey to just half an hour.

It is expected that the railway, which will be operated by state-owned Saudi Railways Org, will be completed by 2012 and will help increase the number of worshippers to the holy sites to 14 million per year by 2030, according to Saudi Arabia’s transport ministry.

Last month, CRCC won a deal worth $1.7 billion to lay 18 km of railway line in Saudi Arabia. After completion, the railway line is expected to carry 72,000 passengers per hour at peak period.

China Railway's share of the infrastructure works deal is 21.25%, according to Al-Rajhi, which is involved in leading the consortium's bids. Al Arrab will get 63.75% of the contract's value and another local firm 15%.