Saudi Arabia signs $613m contracts for rail project

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it has signed contracts worth more than SR2.3bn ($613m) for the country's North-South Railway project.

Dr Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance and chairman of the Public Investment Fund, signed three contracts for the Saudi Railways Company project, state news agency SPA reported.

The contracts include work to build five passenger stations, a maintenance workshop complex, and 36 support buildings, it added.

Al-Assaf said work on the project was being carried out at an "accelerated pace", adding that it will "enhance means of transportation and communications between the regions of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia".

Last May, the railway started initial operations on a 1,392km mineral line, linking phosphate mines at Al Jalamaid and a bauxite mine at Az Zabirah to processing facilities at the industrial hub of Ras Azzour on the Gulf coast.

In total, the North-South Railway project will stretch for 2,400km and carry both passengers and freight.

It will start in Riyadh, in the northwest of the country, and stretch to Al Haditha, near the border with Jordan.

The North-South Railway line is being built as a part of 3,900km rail expansion plans.

Other rail projects include a 1,100km landbridge project connecting the eastern and western parts of Saudi Arabia and a 450km high-speed rail link from Haramain to Jeddah, connecting Makkah and Madinah.