Saudi Arabia’s new 450km high-speed Haramain Railway will link Makkah and Medina to Jeddah on the Red Sea, where millions of pilgrims arrive each year to visit the holy cities. Deutsche Bahn of Germany (DBN.UL), Italy’s Astaldi (AST.MI) and WS Atkins (ATKW.L) of the UK form parts of six consortiums bidding to build four stations on the line. Other bidders are France’s Alstom (ALSO.PA), Austria’s Strabag (STRV.VI), and Singapore-based ST Engineering Ltd’s (STEG.SI), according to a statement issued by the Saudi Railway Organisation (SRO). Each of the foreign companies is teamed with a Saudi partner in competing for this phase of the project. Bids were received by SRO on 10 July.
The British firms Foster and Partners and Buro Happold were awarded a contract in 2009 to design the four stations while a 6.5 billion riyal contract was awarded to a group led by Al-Rajhi Group to carry out civil works linked to the railway. Early in July the SRO received bids for a contract to cover the construction of the track, installation of signalling and telecommunications, as well as the procurement of rolling stock and maintenance.

Original article [Railways Africa]