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Riyadh metro contracts

October 10, 2013

Engineering giant Siemens has finalized contracts with Saudi authorities detailing its role in the world's biggest public transport project. The firm will deliver trains and signal technology for the new Riyadh metro.

https://p.dw.com/p/19xXB
Saudi Arabian men ride on the newly-opened Holy Sites metro light rail in the western Saudi city of Mecca on November 2, 2010. The Chinese-built monorail project, will link Mecca with the holy sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah, and will operate for the first time during the Hajj this month at 35 percent capacity to ferry Saudi nationals who will take part in the upcoming annual Muslim pilgrimage. AFP PHOTO/AMER HILABI (Photo credit should read AMER HILABI/AFP/Getty Images)
Image: Amer Hilabi/AFP/Getty Images

Siemens has signed contracts for 74 metro trains, as well as for the complete signal and communications equipment on two lines of the new six-line driverless metro network in Riyadh, the German engineering firm announced Thursday.

The contracts were worth about 1.5 billion euros ($2.02 billion), Siemens said a statement.

In July this year, Arriyadh Development Authority awarded multi-billion-dollar contracts to three multi-national consortia from the US, Asia and Europe to design and construct the first commuter-rail network in the Saudi capital.

The Riyadh metro rail system, estimated to cost about $22 billion, involves six railway lines extending 176 kilometers, and is considered to be the world's largest public transport project.

Siemens will participate in building lines 1 and 2, in a consortium with US construction giant Bechtel, as well as local construction firms Almabani and the Consolidated Contractors company.

The Metro system is to go into operation in 2018, Siemens said, and is the firm's biggest order to date from the Middle Eastern region.

uhe/slk (Reuters, dpa)