Mecca Medina Indra Group (2)

SAUDI ARABIA: Talgo is to supply a further 20 trainsets for use on the Haramain High Speed Railway as part of a wider package of investment agreed with the Spanish consortium that developed the line.

The 453 km electrified high speed line opened in 2018 connects Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City. It is currently worked by a fleet of 35 Talgo 350 trainsets running at up to 300 km/h. The rolling stock manufacturer said the latest batch of trains would be supplied to a similar specification, offering a capacity of 417 seats distributed in two classes across 13 coaches, in addition to dedicated spaces for catering and passengers with reduced mobility. The order has added €1·3bn to the company’s order book, it said when announcing the order on February 8.

The Haramain railway has been developed and managed by the Consorcio Español Alta Velocidad Meca Medina, which includes Spanish national operator RENFEas an operating partner. On February 8, Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente joined officials from the Saudi government in Riyadh to announce the rolling stock order and confirm that the operator would continue to run trains on behalf of Saudi Arabia Railways until 2038. This represented an investment of €2·8bn across the consortium, Puente added.

On February 10, another member of the consortium, Indra, said it had seen its contract to operate and maintain rail traffic management, telecommunications, booking, ticketing, access control, safety and IT systems on the railway for ‘at least’ a further five years. The contract extension is worth approximately €130m, the company said.

‘With the renewal of this contract, we reaffirm our commitment to the digital transformation of transport in a region which is witnessing significant growth in mobility, with a clear focus on innovative solution’, said Raúl Ripio, Managing Director of Mobility & Technology at Indra Group.

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