SAUDI ARABIA: National railway Saudi Arabia Railways has called tenders for the supply and maintenance of 10 passenger trainsets to increase capacity on its Northern Network.
The 2 700 km Northern Network connects cities including Riyadh, Al Majma’ah, Al Qassim, Ha’il, Al-Jowf, and Al-Qurayat. There are plans to add new stations including at Al Zulfi.
Services on the Northern Network are currently operated using CAF push-pull trainsets. On January 17 SAR said an expanded fleet is required to help meet growing passenger demand by increasing capacity to more than 2·4 million seats/year, nearly three times the current level.
Bids are to be submitted by May 11 2026.
SAR CEO Dr Bashar bin Khalid Al-Malik said expanding the fleet represented a strategic objective under the company’s plans to further develop passenger services as part of the National Transport & Logistics Strategy and Saudi Vision 2030.
Stadler is currently producing 10 passenger trains for the Eastern Line linking Riyadh with Dammam. In 2025 expressions of interest were invited in the supply of 20 high speed trainsets for the Haramain High Speed Railway which connects Makkah and Madinah.
