Rome, 28 August 2015
Italferr, the engineering subsidiary of Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, and Public Investment Fund Saudita (PIF) have signed a contract to extend the preliminary and detailed project for a railway line to connect Jeddah port on the Red Sea with Al Jubail on the Arabian Sea.
This project entails around 1300 kilometres of railway line to cross the entire width of the Arabian Sea and unite the two seas surrounding the Arabian Peninsula.
This project will keep Italferr busy for 20 months as of August 2015. Once the line is electrified, passenger trains will be able to reach speeds of up to 350 kilometres an hour. Stations, warehouses and maintenance centres are also included in the project.
Italferr has operated in Saudi Arabia since 2013 as Designer for the preliminary and detailed plan for the connection between Jeddah and capital city Riyadh known as the “Saudi Landbridge Railway Project”.
This Gruppo FS subsidiary was awarded the appointment from among a number of leading international companies.
Italferr earned the appreciation of the Saudi Railway Company - SAR (the Saudi company responsible for project management) due to the speed at which relative design was completed and the most suitable solutions for overcoming issues were found, for example with regard to the high temperatures involved and crossing extensive areas comprising sand dunes and rocky areas so characteristic to the Saudi desert.
Through this project, Italferr will strengthen its position on foreign markets, especially in an area as difficult as that entailed in Gulf countries.