Saudi, Spanish group wins $9.4bn Haramain rail deal

The Saudi Railways Organisation has awarded a 6.74bn euro ($9.4bn) contract for the second phase of its high-speed Haramain railway project to the public-private Saudi-Spanish Al-Shoula consortium. The high-speed Haramain Railway will link Islam's holiest cities Mecca and Medina to the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, a key entry point for millions of pilgrims, and to King Abdullah Economic City, currently under construction. "This phase of the project includes the construction of railway tracks, installation of signaling and telecommunication systems, electrification, operational control centre, the procurement of 35 trains, and the operation and maintenance for a period of 12 years," Saudi Railways said in a statement on Wednesday. The contract covers the construction of 450 kilometres of high-speed track, with the capacity to transport over 160,000 passengers a day, according to a statement by Spain's Ministry of Public Works. The Al-Shoula consortium is made up of Spanish public rail companies including state railway operator Renfe and rail track company Adif, as well as private constructors OHL, ACS and Indra and Saudi companies Al Shoula y Al Rosan. A rival consortium comprising French transport and power engineering company Alstom, French state-owned railway operator SNCF and Saudi-based Al-Rajhi Group had also submitted bids for the project. "We submitted a quality offer and we regret that we have not been chosen," said an Alstom spokeswoman. The Spanish consortium win represents another international setback for Alstom, after losing out in 2010 to German rival Siemens in a deal to supply high-speed trains on the London-Paris route.