Málaga to Build High Speed Rail Network for Mecca
October 27th, 2011
The Renfe/Talgo organisation of Los Prados, in Málaga, was celebrating yesterday after being awarded, by the Government of Saudi Arabia, the contract to build the high speed AVE service between Mecca and Medina.
The Spanish consortium will be increasing the workload in their Malaga factory, which has participated in recent years in the construction of the high speed S-112 railway series. This news was revealed by sources close to the project, who highlighted Málaga’s experience in the assembly and maintenance of these high speed vehicles.
The Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO) announced yesterday the hiring of the Spanish group for this mega-project, budgeted at around 6,500 million euros, and which also involves Copasa, Imathia, Cobra, OHL, Dimetronic, Inabensa and Indra. The contract includes the construction of about 450 kilometres of railway network, the installation of signaling and telecommunication systems, electrification, the control operations centre and the supply of 35 AVE trains.
The contract also includes the operation and maintenance of the line for a period of twelve years, according to the official Saudi agency statement, reported Diario Sur. The Saudi Railways Organisation noted that the winning consortium, dubbed ‘Al-Shoula’, puts an end to the tender process launched by their government some years ago to contract for these works, which generated interest from business partnerships around the world, and from which the two finalists were selected, one Spanish and the other French.
For Spain, winning the bid for this historic project is an important step in the internationalisation strategy for the AVE, promoted by the Spanish Government under the name ‘Alta Velocidad Española’ (Spanish High Speed). As part of this strategy, many countries from all continents have travelled to Spain to see the AVE first hand, among them the United States.
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