SAUDI Arabia Railways (SAR) has issued a tender for the supply of 10 new diesel passenger trains to operate on its 2700km Northern Network.
The contract will include the design, manufacture and supply of the new fleet, plus maintenance. The deadline for submission of bids is May 11.
The new trains will operate on the Northern Network, which extends approximately 2700km from Riyadh to Al Majmaah, Al Qassim, Hail, Al Jouf, and Al Qurayyat. SAR says there are plans to open new stations on the line in the coming years, including at Al Zulfi.
SAR CEO, Bashar bin Khalid Al-Malik, says the new trains will help meet growing demand on the Northern Network, increasing total train capacity to over 2.4 million seats a year, nearly three times the current level.
This tender is the next phase of SAR’s programme to modernise and increase its passenger fleet. Stadler was awarded a SFr 600m ($US 773.2m) contract in February 2024 to supply 10 diesel trains to operate East Train services from Riyadh to Hofuf, Abqaiq and Dammam. The contract includes maintenance as well as an option for 10 additional trains.
SAR already operates a fleet of 18 200km/h diesel push-pull trains supplied by CAF, with 12 deployed on the Eastern and six on the Northern network.
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