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Saudi Arabia: First wagons for mineral railway arrive from China

RIYADH: The first consignment of 125 wagons for the mineral railway line project was received by the Saudi Railway Company (SAR) at a formal function held at the King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam on Saturday.

SAR President Mansour Al-Mayman said this is the maiden consignment of 688 wagons that have been ordered from China.

"The 2,400-km North-South Railway is given priority due to its importance to industrial development. It will ferry minerals from mines at Al-Jalami and As-Zabirah in the north and central zones to processing plants at Ras Az-Zawr in the east," he added.

Al-Mayman,who is also the secretary-general of the Public Investment Fund ( PIF ), said the railway is integral to planned phosphate and bauxite mining projects in the north of the country.

"It is of strategic importance to the national economy, as the processing of phosphates, available in commercial quantities, will place the Kingdom second internationally in its exports, besides accommodating fertilizer industry technology. It will also increase oil, agricultural and industrial products transportation, as well as goods and passengers."

The new mineral rail line would transport 15,000 tons of minerals in a single trip which otherwise would need 600 cargo trucks. He added that each locomotive would have 100 wagons.

Locomotives are being manufactured by EMD, a company based in Canada at a cost of SR337 million, while the Chinese CSR is manufacturing the wagons at a cost of SR342 million. Al-Mayman said 524 wagons will be utilized for the transfer of phosphates, while the remaining 144 flat wagons are meant to transport general cargo and petroleum products. The Chinese company is responsible for technical support in the next two years, Al-Mayman said.

It was revealed that six of the 25 locomotives from Canada are currently ready and would arrive in the Kingdom by the end of August. The remaining wagons and 19 locomotives will arrive in October.

The Ministry of Finance awarded $765 million contract to a group comprising Mitsui & Co. Ltd, Barclay Mowlem Ltd and Al Rashid to provide civil and track work services for a 508-mile stretch of the new North South Railway line.

India's state-owned Rites Company was awarded for the operation of the mineral railway linking the northern Al-Jalami region with Ras Az-Zawr near the industrial port city of Jubail. The value of the contract depends on the volume of minerals and goods that are transported through the railway during the contract period.

The North-South Railway, which starts from Hudaitha in Al-Jouf province and passes by Hail, Qassim and Riyadh provinces, will start transporting minerals this year.

"We have completed 1,050 km of railway line from a total of 1,486 km," he said highlighting progress on the project.

He added that the rail line would also serve the upcoming Sudair Industrial City in Qassim for mineral transport.

The passenger rail line will measure a distance of 1,005 km covering cities such as Riyadh, Qassim, Hail, Al-Jouf and Al-Haditha at the Jordanian border. High-speed trains at 200 kmph will run on this rail track. The new rail lines not only link the GCC countries with the Kingdom but also will connect Saudi Arabia with Europe via Jordan, Syria and Turkey. "We have plans to export phosphate to countries such as India, Pakistan, China, Japan, Australia, the US and Korea," Al-Mayman said.

He added that the current price and returns will be better than expected prices.

Rumaih bin Muhammad Al-Rumaih, executive chairman of SAR, said the full operations of both passenger and goods trains will begin in 2013 serving one million passengers a year and transporting 3 million tons of goods annually. He said there will be six stations for passenger traffic, including Riyadh, Qassim, Hail and Al-Jouf.

By MD Rasooldeen

© Arab News 2010