SAUDI ARABIA

PROJECT DATA

1,300 km of new non-electrified double-track railway line

Mixed-traffic line with a full-scale design speed of 350 km/h (with electrified line) for passenger trains and 160 km/h for freight trains

"Double stack" type heavy freight traffic (double containers stacked on cars) with an axle load of 32.4 tons (GCC Standard) and trains about 4,000 m long

Line interconnected with existing rail network in the vicinity of Riyadh and Al Jubail

4 passenger stations, the most important of which is the Jeddah interchange station with the Mecca-Medina High Speed line, for which multiple architectural and functional solutions have been studied

2 large "Dry Port" freight marshalling yards in Jeddah and Riyadh

The project was extremely challenging due to its size (1,300 km): drafting of 15,000 documents including reports and drawings for the different phases of the project, 620 geotechnical surveys totalling 14,000 meters of development and mapping with Lidar technology totalling 130,000 m. The existence of particularly difficult environmental conditions due to the presence of sand, strong winds and very high temperatures requiring studies and experimentation of innovative solutions to mitigate their effects:

"Sand Mitigation" studies to ensure safe train running conditions by limiting the presence of sand on the track
studies of wind effect (with speeds up to 140 km/h) to prevent possible overturning of freight trains
design of mitigation elements (barriers)
studies on the materials for railway substructure and superstructure.

In this regard, Italferr was praised by the SAR for the speed of the design and identification of the most suitable solutions to overcome problems such as the high temperatures that are reached in the section and the crossing of large areas with sand dunes and rocky sections that characterise the Saudi desert.