06.10.2008

Work on SR20bn Makkah monorail to begin after Haj
P. K. Abdul Ghafour | Arab News  

JEDDAH: Work on the first phase of an SR20 billion Makkah monorail project will start in December soon after the Haj season to facilitate transportation of pilgrims between the holy sites of Makkah, Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa. The project is designed to transport five million pilgrims.

“An agreement will be signed with the winner of the contract to implement the project soon after Haj,” said Dr. Habeeb Zain Al-Abidine, deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs and secretary-general of the Commission for Development of Makkah, Madinah and the Holy Sites. Five specialized international companies, which were short-listed from 10, are competing for the multibillion dollar project, he said, adding that a meeting chaired by Prince Miteb, minister of municipal and rural affairs and chairman of the commission, would be held tomorrow to open their tenders.

Zain Al-Abidine said a feasibility study conducted by an international company had proposed five monorails linking the holy sites. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has given his approval to the project that will ease transportation of more than three million pilgrims between the holy sites.

“The feasibility study suggested the second monorail be built two to three years after the construction of the first one,” he said, adding that a single monorail would cost SR4 billion. The first monorail beginning from Mina will transport nearly one million pilgrims including 360,000 Arab pilgrims.

Monorail, which is a single rail serving as the track for a wheeled or (magnetically) levitating vehicle, has been rapidly paving its way as a modern urban transit system, providing the most-sought-after transportation solutions for a built-up congested city. The Makkah monorails will be 8 to 10 meters above the ground to ensure smooth flow of pedestrians and vehicles.

Zain Al-Abidine said the implementation of the project in the holy sites would help withdraw 25,000 buses from a total of 70,000 used by domestic pilgrims as well as pilgrims who come by land from neighboring countries. He said the system would help transport at least 500,000 pilgrims within six to eight hours.

According to the present study, monorails will have a station west of the stoning area in Mina in order to transport pilgrims to the second and fourth levels of the high-tech Jamrat Bridge.

20.09.2008

Hijaz Railway Bridge to be reconstructed
Arab News  

MADINAH: The Madinah Municipality has decided to reconstruct the historic railway bridge near the Islamic University in Wadi Al-Aqiq neighborhood in Madinah.

“The General Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (GCTA) is collaborating with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in the reconstruction of the bridge as part of the GCTA program to renovate and preserve historical sites in the Kingdom,” said Ali Al-Ghaban, deputy secretary- general of the GCTA, yesterday.

The Madinah Municipality demolished the historic Hijaz Railway Bridge in 2005 because it had suffered structural damage during heavy flooding the previous year.

Commenting on the municipality’s decision to reconstruct the old bridge, GCTA’s Secretary-General Prince Sultan bin Salman said the move signified the increasing awareness in the country about the need to preserve antiquities and architectural heritages.

Al-Ghaban said Prince Sultan bin Salman also appreciated the special interest shown by Madinah Gov. Prince Abdul Aziz bin Majed in the reconstruction of the bridge.

The prince also expressed satisfaction over the efforts made by various local governments and government departments in the renovation and restoration of old buildings and sites of cultural significance particularly the mayor’s office in Asir and an ancient fort in Namas.

The Wadi Aqiq bridge was part of the Hijaz Railway completed in 1908 by Ottomans with the aim of providing easy access to Muslim pilgrims in the Middle East and Near East to Makkah and Madinah.

The demolition of the bridge had outraged the Madinah residents and historians though it was seriously damaged even before that.

The residents protested the municipality’s unimaginative act saying that it should have attempted to preserve the landmark rather than leveling it.

14.07.2008

Train travels 10 km on wrong track
Faiz Al-Mazrouei 

Arab News

DAMMAM: The Saudi Railways Organization yesterday launched an investigation into how a Dammam-bound passenger train traveled for around 10 kilo-meters along the wrong track near Abqaiq.

"The train, which left Riyadh station early in the day on Friday, was stopped at Kilo 84, about 10 kilometers away after running on the wrong track before reaching Abqaiq station," an official source said.

The train schedule, which was disrupted as a result, resumed after the train was moved onto the right track. Railway authorities apologized to passengers for any inconvenience caused.

08.07.2008

Company licensed to run east-west railway
P.K. Abdul Ghafour

Arab News  

JEDDAH: The much-awaited east-west railway (land bridge) project received a boost yesterday as the Council of Ministers licensed a joint stock company to establish and operate the estimated $5 billion project. "The Council of Ministers decided to license the establishment of Saudi Land Bridge Company as a closed joint stock company," the Saudi Press Agency said, quoting Economy and Planning Minister and Acting Information Minister Khaled Al-Gosaibi.

The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Crown Prince Sultan, said the new company would "establish, develop, operate and maintain the railway linking the Kingdom’s east with its west... transport passengers and goods and carry out other related activities."

Transport Minister Jabara Al-Seraisry said the land bridge project would be completed in four years and Abdul Aziz Al-Hoqail, president of the Saudi Railway Organization (SRO), said the winner of the contract would be announced this year. The consortium that wins the project will have an 80 percent stake in the company, while the government will hold 20 percent.

The project involves the construction of 950 km of new railway track between Riyadh and Jeddah, and another 115-km line between Dammam and Jubail. It is the cornerstone of a massive multibillion-riyal railway expansion project and will be the first rail link between the Red Sea and the Gulf. Four consortia — Agility PWC Logistics Consortium, Mada Consortium, Saudi Binladin Consortium and Al-Muhaidib/ACWA (Tarabot) Consortium — have presented their financial and technical offers for implementing the project.

01.05.2008

Hijaz Railway Revival A Real Possibility

 Jordan, Syria And Saudi Arabia To Consider Reviving Hijaz Railway
 

Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria recently agreed ro carry out a joint study in the next few weeks to consider utilising the Hijaz Railway, which crosses through the three countries.

The remarks were made at a meeting yesterday for the higher commission of the Hijaz Railway in the presence of Minister of Transport Alaa Batayneh, his Saudi counterpart Jobara Soraisri and Syrian counterpart Yarob Badr.

In a statements to the press, Batayneh said the three-way meeting is part of ongoing coordination between the three countries regarding railway linkage.

Batayneh, who said Iraq will soon float a tender for railway linkage with Jordan and Syria, added that the joint study will stipulate the rights of each involved country.

The Hijaz Railway is old and in need of repair to be in line with international railway standards, Batayneh said, adding that the railway, is currently used for ferrying passengers and transporting goods between Amman and Damascus.

The railway, which was originally constructed in 1908, was built at an estimated five-million Ottoman gold liras.

Yesterday's meeting, the first after seven years, also focused on mechanisms to involve the private sector in the railway linkage between the three countries.

Also yesterday, Prime Minister Nader Dahabi met with the two visiting ministers.

The premier highlighted the importance of cooperation and coordination between Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria to benefit from the railroad, which is currently run by administration representing the three countries.

6.03.2008

Landbridge Result Now Expected In June

 $5bn Saudi Railway Deal To Be Awarded In June

ArabianBusiness.com

Saudi Arabia's railway organization said it would name by June the winner of its estimated $5 billion project to build a 1,100 km railway across the Saudi desert.

Four groups of Saudi and international firms are vying for the 30-year contract to build and operate the rail network linking the Gulf and Red Sea coasts of the world's largest oil exporter, and final bids are now being invited.

"We will know the winner by June," Mohammad Afzal Khan, advisor to the president of the Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) told newswire Reuters by telephone from Dammam.

"The group which asks for the minimum grant from the government and meets the financial models will be the preferred bidder."

Khan said the minimum grant requested was about 6.5 billion riyals ($1.73 billion), declining to name the consortium.

Two executives from Saudi construction firms bidding for the project said the minimum grant requested ranged from 6.5 billion riyals to 16 billion riyals, with total project costs estimated at more than $5 billion.

Khan declined to say how much the project would cost, but said the consortiums would have to put in 20 percent equity with the remainder coming from bank loans and the government grant.

The so-called Saudi Landbridge project includes a 950 km line between the capital Riyadh and the Red Sea port of Jeddah, as well as a 115 km link between the industrial city of Jubail and Dammam, the oil hub on the Gulf coast.

The Landbridge is one of the projects Saudi Arabia is using to tap a regional economic boom - powered by a quadrupling of oil prices in the past six years - to develop infrastructure, tourism and industry.

Kuwaiti logistics firm Agility leads one consortium with US firms KBR, General Electric and Saudi Arabia's Al Rajhi Bank.

Saudi Binladin Group heads a group including Japan's Mitsui & Company, India's Ircon International, Germany's Siemens, Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Bahn, according to the SRO website.

Rajhi Investment leads the group with Mada Company for Industrial & Commercial Investment. Other members include Canada's SNC-Lavalin and Saudi Arabia's Samba Financial Group.

The fourth consortium, led by Saudi family owned business Al-Muhaidib & Sons, includes South Korea's Samsung Engineering & Construction and French bank BNP Paribas.

2.03.2008

Mecca - Madina Rail Link Gets The Go Ahead

 Holy Cities Rail Link Gets Green Light

ArabianBusiness.com

Saudi King Abdullah on Wednesday gave the green light for a high-speed rail link between Islam's holy cities of Mecca and Medina via the commercial hub of Jeddah, the official SPA news agency reported.

It said the project, first mooted years ago to help transport the hundreds of thousands of Muslims who visit the kingdom for the annual hajj pilgrimage, will be financed by Saudi investment funds.

The new rail link aims to transport an estimated 10 million Umrah and Haj pilgrims every year. It includes the construction of approximately 500 kilometers of high-speed electric railway lines between the three cities.

Jeddah on the Red Sea is the required port of entry for millions of Muslims performing the year-round Umra, or minor pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.

It is also the port of entry for the main hajj which precedes the annual Feast of the Sacrifice, or Eid al-Adha, and brings together more than two million of the faithful.

The trains will travel at up to 300 kilometers (180 miles) per hour, allowing a Mecca-Jeddah journey time of half an hour and Jeddah-Medina in two hours, SPA quoted Transport Minister Jebarah bin Eid Al-Suraisri as saying.

SPA did not give an estimated cost or timetable for the project, however a spokesman for the Saudi Binladin group said in January it expected a contract worth $5 billion to be awarded at the end of this year.

The network is part of a massive kingdom-wide railway project, which also involves the construction of 950 kilometers of new tracks between Riyadh and Jeddah, and another 115 kilometers of track between Dammam and Jubail.

Last April the Saudi government awarded three contracts totaling 1.9 billion dollars for the construction of railways covering 1,766 kilometers (1,100 miles).

SPA said at the time the work was expected to take 42 months to complete.

26.01.2008

Russian Railways Wins $800mn Saudi Deal

ArabianBusiness.com

State-owned Russian Railways said on Monday it had won an $800 million tender from Saudi Arabia to build a 520-kilometre railway line from Riyadh airport to a key mainline junction on its giant North-South railway project.

"When the envelopes with the financial offers were opened... the Russian Railways proposal was the best," Russian Railways president Vladimir Yakunin said in a statement.

The rail line will connect Riyadh's King Khalid Airport with the Al-Zabira junction on Saudi Arabia's North-South railway project, which is being built to move minerals from the interior to an industrial complex to be built on the Gulf coast.

The project is one of several planned to expand the kingdom’s rail network. The Saudi Landbridge and Mecca-Medina Rail Link (MMRL) projects are expected to transform the existing rail network into a world-class freight and passenger system that will bring together the entire country.

Saudi Landbridge includes a 950-kilometre line between capital Riyadh and the Red Sea port of Jeddah, as well as a 115-kilometre link between the industrial city of Jubail and Dammam, the oil hub on the Gulf coast.

Tenders for Landbridge from four groups of Saudi and international firms were submitted in November, and the Saudi Rail Organisation (SRO) is to announce the winning bid in February.

MMRL will involve the construction of new lines linking the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina with Jeddah, the gateway to Mecca for Haj pilgrims.

SRO said in December six international groups were expected to submit proposals by January for the project.

  26.01.2008

Saudi Landbridge Contract To Be Awarded By March 2008

ArabianBusiness.com

undefined undefinedThe Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) is expected to award the estimated US $5 billion BOT contract for the Landbridge project within the next two months according to one of the bidding consortia.

Bids for the project are currently under evaluation.

Four bidders that were pre-qualified to participate in the tender for the Saudi Landbridge Project have submitted their bids.

The bidders include Agility PWC Logistics Consortium, Mada Consortium, Saudi Binladin Consortium and Al Muhaidib/ACWA (Tarabot) Consortium.

The SRO is confident that it will be in a position to select the Winning Bidder in the first quarter of 2008.

Speaking to Construction Week, Ahmed Anees, official spokesperson for Saudi Binladin Group said: "The contract is expected to be awarded within the next two months. We were pre-qualified to bid for it and we stand a very good chance at the moment.

"We have also bid for the Makkah-Madinah Rail Project, which is also about $5 billion. That is expected to be awarded at the end of this year. We're also bidding for the Riyadh Metro project.

The Saudi Landbridge Project will transform the existing railway network in Saudi Arabia into a world-class freight and passenger network linking the east and west coasts of the country.

It will have the capability to move large quantities of cargo over long distances at competitive rates and will offer safe and comfortable overland passenger transport.

The Landbridge will connect the port cities of Jeddah, Dammam and Jubail and will pass through the capital city Riyadh, serving its dry port. The project, which is being tendered on a BOT basis, is one of the largest of its kind undertaken in the Middle East to date.

12.11.2007

Gulf Railway Network Will Miss Out Bahrain

 Gulf Daily News Altaqata

A Proposed railway network connecting the GCC countries will not include Bahrain, it has emerged.

Transport experts from across the region gathered at a two-day conference in Dubai to discuss the issue.

But according to reports in the Dubai-based newspaper Emirates Today, the railway, which will run for 1,000km near the Gulf coast, will go from Muscat to Kuwait City and only pass through the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

It said trains will operate at speeds of up to 180kph and a GCC summit in December will decide whether to extend the line by another 1,000km to include Yemen.

The report says member countries are in the process of establishing national railway networks that will be integrated into the GCC railway network.

The World Bank's senior transport specialist Ramiz Al Assar said the Gulf line would cost $2.5bn (BD945 million) and would be ready by 2015.

"All GCC member countries are fully committed to the project and there is no going back on this vow, despite some hurdles that still need to be overcome," he told the conference.

Plans for the Gulf-wide railway line were finalised at the fourth Middle East Rail Projects Conference that ended at the Park Hyatt in Dubai yesterday.

Among the keynote speakers were director-general of the Arab Union of Railways Mourhaf Sabhouni, GCC General Secretariat transport director Sultan Al Ghanim and Dubai Roads and Transport Authority director of planning Abdulredha Abu Al Hassan.

International law firm Norton Rose was among the companies participating from Bahrain.

Plans for a railway connecting Bahrain and the GCC were first mooted in June 2004 when Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa approved the proposal at a cabinet meeting.

05.12.2006

Rail Link With Southern Cities Under Study
P.K. Abdul Ghafour | arab news

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.

19.01.2006

Hejaz Railway Museum Opened
Yousif Muhammad | arab news  

After more than 90 years, an important part of the historic Hejaz Railway has opened as a museum. Visitors can come during two shifts — morning and afternoon — to learn about the rail system that was immortalized in the Hollywood classic “Lawrence of Arabia”.

The museum, located near the holy mosque in Madinah, will initially be open for four months with a SR5 admission fee. Families will be happy to see the children’s playground adjoining the museum.

Mohammed Al-Shareef, a member of the Madinah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a member of the Haj and Umrah Committee at the Chamber, said that tourism officials have decided to use the remnants of the rail line as one of its regional focal points for tourism development. He said that millions of riyals had been spent in developing and restoring the site.

The railway was considered one of the greatest achievements of the Ottoman ruler Abdul Hammed II. The line connected Damascus to Madinah, and it reduced travel time between the two cities from 45 perilous days ridden with bandits to only five. Construction began in 1900 with the assistance of German engineers. The first train arrived in Madinah on Aug. 23, 1908.

The railway originally to continue on to Makkah, with the aim of not only helping pilgrims make their routes to the holy sites safer and faster, but also to help solidify the Ottoman grip on the region by strengthening trade ties between Damascus and the Hejaz Region. The train would occasionally face robberies and attacks from Arab tribes, but it nonetheless made the route considerably safer for pilgrims and traders.

A line that was originally intended for peaceful transit of pilgrims and trade fell victim to one of the world’s worst conflicts. Trains ran on the line for nine relatively peaceful years before the Ottomans sided with the Germans in WWI. This spurred the Arab Revolt against Turkish occupation of the western region of what is today Saudi Arabia. The British united with Arab guerrillas to disable the rail line because was being used to provide material support to the Central Powers.

But before war brought an end to the ambitious project, Muslims around the world were enthusiastic about building what came to be known as the Hejaz Railway. Muslims donated more than one third of the railway’s total cost and people wept with joy when the first train arrived in Madinah. They prayed for the ruler who built the rail system. While critics said that Hameed had built the line to solidify Ottoman occupation of the Hejaz region, pilgrims considered the line a Godsend.

In those days, it was no easy task to perform Haj. From Iraq, the pilgrim’s road was 1,300 kilometers long and it took a month to make the journey. From Egypt and also from Syria, the distance was some 1,500 kilometers and normally took about 40 days. Muslims outside the Middle East took anywhere from a month to six months to make the journey. (Some Muslims in those days would be gone for years from their hometowns performing Haj.) Because of problems related to safety, water and the dangers of the journey quite apart from the time needed, many Muslims were reluctant to perform Haj.

Abdul Hameed in fact had two aims when he built the Hejaz Railway. He wanted to have a means of traveling safely and quickly to Islam’s Holy Places and secondly, to unite the Muslim world against European ambitions and threats in the Islamic world. (Unfortunately, the Ottomans ended up taking sides in one of Europe’s worst tragedies.) The project, which cost millions, was not easy to pay for since the Ottoman Empire itself was in dire financial straits. Abdul Hameed, however, called for donations from Muslims all over the world and he led the way by donating from his own purse.

There was no scarcity of problems and difficulties with the route and the building of the line. The first was water. That was solved by digging wells and by bringing water in tanks on the finished sections of the railway. The Ottoman Army provided labor for the railway. Another, perhaps unforeseen, difficulty was flooding. To counter the threat, engineers built drainage systems along the railway line. Another problem was the moving sands that threatened the stability of the line. The solution was to cover the sand with clay and to build small barriers of rocks along some portions of the line.

Today, two portions of the line still operate, both in Syria, and there have been talks of rebuilding the Saudi portion of the line.

In September, The Supreme Commissions of Tourism sternly condemned Madinah city officials for demolishing part of the rail line, and has stepped up efforts to restores the remnants of the line as part of a greater effort to develop tourism. A rail line that was once hailed as an achievement of Muslim can-do unity, that later fell victim to the ravages of war and was neglected for decades, may once again rise up as a symbol of historic pride.

27.12.2005

Railways Will Connect Jeddah’s New Airport to Holy Cities
Hasan Hatrash, Arab News  

JEDDAH, 27 December 2005 — Two railroad stations will be built in Jeddah’s new King Abdul Aziz International Airport to help facilitate flow of pilgrims between Jeddah and the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, announced Abdullah Rahaimy, head of the General Authority of Civil Aviation.

“The construction of the two stations is planned with the Saudi Railway Organization to coincide with the establishment of the new airport, which is to be constructed soon,” he said.

Rahaimy was speaking to the press yesterday at the Haj Terminal during an inspection tour by Abdullah Al-Fayez, undersecretary at the Makkah governorate.

Rahaimy said the first phase of the new airport involves constructing terminals to accommodate 30 million passengers a year.

He noted that expansion projects would be studied every five years according to the growth of flight operations in the region. The projects would include development and upgrade of the current terminals, including adding new operating systems and facilities, runways, lights, and fuel connections.

The projects, he said, will start as soon as the bidding process for contractors was complete.

19.12.2005

Saudi-arabische Bahnen ordern GSM-R

Ein Konsortium aus Siemens und der saudi-arabischen Nour Communications Company hat von der Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) den Auftrag erhalten, die Infrastruktur des saudi-arabischen Bahnnetzes zu modernisieren. Siemens wird die Strecke zwischen Dammam und Riad mit Signaltechnik, einem GSM-R-Netz und einem Videoüberwachungssystem für die Bahnübergänge ausrüsten. Die Strecke ist insgesamt rund 1000 Kilometer lang. Der Auftrag hat ein Volumen von 91 Millionen Euro; der Siemens-Anteil beträgt 59 Millionen Euro.

Der Sprechfunk zwischen Lokführer, Schaffner und Bahnhofspersonal läuft zukünftig über GSM-R. GSM-R unterstützt Leistungsmerkmale des professionellen Funks wie Rufaufbau mit einer Taste, Priorisierung von Notrufen und den Aufbau von Gesprächsgruppen. Der aus GSM-Standards für kommerzielle Handynetze entwickelte Standard GSM-Railway wird auch von der Deutschen Bahn AG und weiteren europäischen Bahngesellschaften schrittweise eingeführt. Die Infrastruktur und Endgeräte für die saudia-arabische Bahn liefert die Siemens-Sparte Communications, die in dem Auftrag den Durchbruch für GSM-R im arabischen Raum sieht. Ein weiterer GSM-R-Anbieter ist Nortel Networks. Der kanadische Telecom-Infrastrukturhersteller meldete im Frühjahr einen prestigeträchtigen GSM-R-Auftrag aus China für die höchste Eisenbahnstrecke der Welt.

Das saudi-arabische Bahnnetz besteht derzeit aus zwei Linien, die die Hafenstadt Dammam mit der Hauptstadt Riad im Landesinneren verbinden. Eine 556 Kilometer lange Strecke für den Güterverkehr wurde in den 1950er Jahren gebaut, eine 449 Kilometer lange Strecke für den Personenverkehr entstand in den 1980er Jahren. SRO befördert rund 850.000 Passagiere pro Jahr. SRO plant die Erweiterung des Bahnnetzes mit dem Ziel, eine direkte Bahnverbindung quer durch Saudi-Arabien vom Persischen Golf zum Roten Meer zu schaffen.

Über Sprechfunk-Anwendungen hinaus ermöglicht GSM-R es auch, Daten zu übertragen. Das Spektrum der Anwendungen reicht von der drahtlosen Anbindung von Fahrkartenautomaten bis hin zu sicherheitskritischen Anwendungen wie der Übertragung von Fahrerlaubnissen, Geschwindigkeitsangaben und Streckendaten, die dem Lokführer laufend via GSM-R geliefert werden. Den Einsatz von GSM-R für diese Zwecke ist im Level 2 des European Train Control System (ETCS) vorgesehen. Nähere Informationen zu ETCS finden sich auf der Website der schweizerischen Bahnen SBB AG. In Saudi-Arabien wird GSM-R jedoch ausschließlich für den Sprechfunk genutzt. Als Zugsicherungssystem liefert die Siemens-Sparte Transportation Systems eine separate Lösung namens Trainguard 100 für ETCS Level 1.

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30.11.2005

Laut Information der englischsprachigen Tageszeitung arab news hat das Königreich einen Vertrag über 512 Millionen Saudi Rial ($ 136.8 Millionen) für den Bau mehrerer Industriebahnen mit einer Gesamtlänge von 2.400 km an ein Konsortium aus amerikanischen, kanadischen, französichen und einheimischen Firmen vergeben.

Der Zweck ist ein Abbau der grossen Phosphatvorkommen im Norden des Landes, welche auf ein Abbauvermögen von insgesamt 3.1 Billionen Tonnen geschätzt werden. Damit hat Saudi Arabien die grössten Phosphatvorkommen der Welt. 

Ausserdem wird eine Verlegung des Transportes landwirtschaftlicher Produkte aus den Farmgegenden nördlich von der Hauptstadt Riad angestrebt. Die Hauptstadt Riad erreicht mittlerweile die Einwohnerzahl von 5 Millionen.

Folgende Strecken sind geplant: Von Al-Hudaitha, nahe der Grenze zu Jordanien im Norden, bis nach Riad über Al-Jouf, Al-Zabira (Hail), Qassim und Sudair. Eine Abzweigung in Al-Zabira (Hail) führt über  Hazm Al-Jalamid nach Ras Az-Zour (südöstliche Seite des Landes zum Arabischen Golf) bis hinunter nach Jubail.

Je nach Bedarf wird ein späterer Ausbau für Personenverkehr nicht ausgeschlossen.