The Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) announced on 28 August the winning metro contractors for Riyadh Public Transport Project (RPTP), one of the largest public transport projects currently under development.

The Riyadh Metro will consist of six automated lines which will have 85 stations in total.

Initially 20 companies from 11 countries bid for the project but finally the USD 22.5 billion Riyadh Metro Project was awarded to three international consortia, which will design and construct the project:

• Ansaldo STS (Italy) is the leader of the Arriyadh New Mobility group (ANM) and will be responsible for the Yellow Line (L5), which will run on the Medina Road and Prince Saad Bin Abdulrahman Road, with a total distance of 40.7 km. The contract is valued at USD 5.211 billion.
• Bechtel (USA) leads the BACS consortium and will design and build Blue Line, which will link the Alia–Batha axis, and worth around USD 6.561 billion and Red Line, which will run on the King Abdullah Road axis and worth USD 2.88 billion,  with a total distance of 63.3 km. The contract is valued at USD 9.447 billion.
• FCC Construccion (Spain) heads up the consortium known as FAST which will deliver Orange Line (L4), at a cost of USD 3.060 billion, Green Line which will run on the King Abdulaziz axis at a cost of USD 2.266 billion, and the Purple Line (L6) which will run on the axis between Abdulrahman Bin Awf Road and Shaykh Hassan Bin Hussein Road, at a cost of USD 2.167 billion.

Trains on the six lines will run at 40 km/h. All stations and carriages will be air-conditioned. The driverless trains will also be divided into first class, family class and single class carriages.

Construction to start first quarter of 2014

“We expect the project would be completed in less than five years,” with construction set to start in the first quarter of 2014, Prince Turki bin Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, deputy governor of Riyadh, told Arab News.

Riyadh Governor Prince Khaled bin Bandar, chairman of the High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh, said: “This project, which aims to make people’s lives easier and reduce their transport burden, combines the strengthening of the status of Saudi Arabia, and supporting its municipal constituents as a one of the fastest growing metropolises in the world.”

Ibrahim Bin Muhammad Al Sultan, President of ADA and Member of the High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh, said the project “is the biggest infrastructure project to be undertaken in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is a cornerstone of the bold future we envision for our city.”

 

 

 

Further reading (press releases from contract-winning consortia companies):

http://www.alstom.com/press-centre/2013/7/alstom-awarded-a-turnkey-metro-project-by-the-city-of-riyadh-in-the-kingdom-of-saudi-arabia/

http://www.ansaldo-sts.com/en/arc/press/ansaldo-sts-wins-new-order-worth-usd-680-million-riyadh

http://www.bombardier.com/en/media-centre/newsList/details.bombardier-to-delivertechnologyfornewmetrolineinriyadh.html

http://www.bechtel.com/2013-07-29.html

http://www.fcc.es/fccweb/actualidad/CSCP081128.html?iddc=CSCP081128