Saudi Arabia
NEOM Railway
NEOM Railway upcoming development, The Line, will not have conventional roads or cars and will accommodate up to nine million people within a small area of 34 square KM.
NEOM aims to power the project with 100 per cent clean energy from renewable sources such as solar, wind, and green hydrogen.
Webuild and joint-venture partner Shibh Al Jazira Contracting Company (Sajco) have signed a €1.4bn contract to design and build 57km of a high-speed railway serving the futuristic commercial and residential region of Neom on Saudi Arabia’s northern Red Sea coast.
The joint venture will build most of the “Connector”, NEOM railway linking Oxagon, Neom’s center for advanced and clean industries, with The Line, the kingdom’s concept for a linear city contained in a multi-storey structure 170km long, 500m high, and 200m wide.
The JV agreement is split 70/30 between Webuild and Sajco. They will carry out civil works for two high-speed and two freight railway tracks. The high-speed railway will carry trains running at speeds of up to 230km/h.
NEOM Company plans to develop highly automated logistics facilities connected to each other by a fully autonomous 250-kilometer long high-speed rail network. The rolling stock is required to handle Neom City’s demands
The railway, which spans 57 KM, is aimed at linking NEOM’s centre for advanced and clean industries, with 170-KM-long futuristic city.
NEOM, which is one of the kingdom’s key giga-projects, is designed as a blueprint for sustainable urban living. This also includes the development of projects such as The Line, Oxagon, Sindalah and Trojena.
The contract includes building viaducts and underpasses.
Webuild said the NEOM railway project would create around 4,000 direct and indirect jobs.