RIYADH: Six locomotives and 125 wagons will be arriving shortly for the mineral railway line project that is to set to take off in December this year, the Saudi Railway Company (SAR) announced here Tuesday.
“We sent a team of five engineers to Canada and China to ensure the progress of the manufacturing of locomotives and wagons,” SAR’s Fawaz Al-Magati told Arab News on Tuesday.
“It was revealed that six of the 25 locomotives from Canada are currently ready and will reach here next month while 125 of the 688 wagons from China are also ready, but the complete order will be delivered here in August this year”. He added that the remaining 19 locomotives would arrive here in October.
Locomotives are being manufactured by EMD, an American company based in Canada, while the Chinese company CSR is manufacturing the required 688 wagons for mineral transport. He said that training of the engine drivers and other technicians would start in October, since the company’s target is to start operations before the end of 2010.
“We may do a test run in early November God willing,” he said.
The North-South Railway starts at Hudaitha in Al-Jouf province and passes through Hail, Qassim and Riyadh provinces.
“We have completed 1,050 km of railway track out of a total of 1,486 km,” Al-Magati added.
Al-Magati said the service would transport 15,000 tons of minerals in a single trip. He added that each locomotive would have 100 wagons.
The 2,400 km North-South Railway is given priority due to its importance to industrial development. It would ferry minerals from mines in the north and central zones at Al-Jalami and As-Zabirah to processing plants at Ras Az-Zawr in the east.
Sponsored by the Public Investment Fund, the rail line is integral to planned phosphate and bauxite mining projects in the north of the country that will link up with processing plants and smelters on the Gulf coast.
It is of strategic importance to the national economy as the processing of phosphates, which exists in commercial quantities, will place the Kingdom second internationally in exports of the mineral, besides accommodating fertilizer industry technology. It will also increase oil, agricultural and industrial products transportation, as well as goods and passengers.
The Ministry of Finance awarded a $765 million contract to a group comprising Mitsui & Co. Ltd, Barclay Mowlem Ltd. and Al-Rashid to provide civil and track work services for a 508-mile stretch of the new railway line.
India’s state-owned Rites Company was awarded the contract for the operation of the mineral railway, linking the northern Al-Jalami region with Ras Az-Zawr near the industrial port city of Jubail.
The value of the contract depends on the volume of minerals and goods that are transported through the railway during the contract period, but according to estimates it could reach SR278 million.
The passenger rail line is 1,005 km long, covering cities such as Riyadh, Qassim, Hail, Al-Jouf and Al-Haditha at the Jordanian border.
High-speed trains will be deployed, running at a speed of 200 km per hour. The new rail lines not only link the GCC countries with the Kingdom but could also connect Saudi Arabia to Europe via Jordan, Syria and Turkey.
SAR’s rail project, which includes mineral and passenger rail services, will cost SR16 billion.
It will provide employment opportunities for more than 3,000 people. Besides transporting passengers, minerals and goods, it is also expected to bring about a qualitative change in travel between Saudi cities and boost the social, economic, commercial and industrial development of regions along the railway.
