Mitsui, Japan’s second-biggest trading house, said it had won a 90 billion yen ($763 million) order together with a group of companies for a railway construction project in Saudi Arabia.

Mitsui said it is teaming up with Al Rashid Trading and Contracting Company of Saudi Arabia and Australia’s Barclay Mowlem to build an 818 km portion of the North-South Railway, which is being built to move mineral traffic from Saudi Arabia’s interior to an industrial complex to be built on the Gulf coast.
A Mitsui spokesman said the trading house aims to expand its railway operations in the Middle East as demand for railway transportation is growing.
Mitsui said in February it was considering taking part in a $7 billion petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia planned by Saudi International Petrochemical.
The Saudi government also plans to build a high-speed passenger line to Makkah.