ITALFERR engineering consultancy, a subsidiary of Italian national railway group FS, has been appointed by Saudi Arabia to undertake design work for the $7-billion Landbridge project.

Italferr’s 14-month contract, awarded by the Ministry of Finance’s Public Investment Fund, covers the design of the track, bridges and other structures, passenger and freight facilities, ETCS (European Train Control System) Level Two signalling and telecommunications, as well as environmental impact assessment and mitigation of the effects of sand. The Italian company will be assisted by local partner Arabian Consulting Engineering Centre.

Development of the planned 950-km double-track mixed traffic line between Riyadh and Jeddah Islamic Port is being managed by Saudi Railway Company (SRC) on behalf of the government. At Riyadh, the line would connect with the existing Saudi Railways Organisation line to Dammam, which would be upgraded. This would provide a freight transit time of around 18 hours between the Gulf and Red Sea, compared with five to seven days by sea.

The line would start from Jeddah Islamic Port to Riyadh to be connected with the existing 450-km line between Riyadh and Dammam, with a second 115-km new line planned to connect Dammam with Jubail on the Arabian Gulf.

US company Fluor is contracted to oversee the work of the contractors and experimental operation of the railway project over a period of 84 months. The 958-km dual track railway passing through different geographical areas will necessitate construction of a series of tunnels and bridges. The SRC will closely work with Fluor for scheduling all construction work based on the highest quality and standards, he said.

Apart from the Saudi deal, Italferr says it has two other major design contracts in the region. In Qatar, it is developing the design for a section of the Doha metro, known as The Doha Metro Red Line Underground, while in Oman it has been awarded the consultancy services for preliminary design of the National Railway Project.