Saudi Arabia plans to link the industrial city of Jubail and the Dammam port through a rail network interconnected with mining centres along the route, the head of the company that is overseeing the project is quoted to have said.
Rumaih Al Rumaih, the chief executive of the Saudi Railway Company (SAR), said the company is preparing the design and tendering documents and will soon tender the project.
"This process will take several months and the construction is expected to start at the end of this year or early next year," Al Rumaih was quoted by Gulf Daily News to have said.
SAR is managing Saudi Arabia's longest railway project, the 2,400km North/South railway, and is financed by the state-run Public Investment Fund.
"The purpose of this project is to give access to factories in Jubail to use our railway network for transporting their products," he said, without giving the cost of the planned 125-km-long Dammam-Jubail railway.
SAR has invited Saudi and global companies to pre-qualify for the Ras Azzour-Jubail link and the deadline for tendering is July 30, said the report.
In May, SAR started initial operations on a 1,392-km mineral line, linking phosphate mines at Al Jalamaid and a bauxite mine at Az-Zabirah to processing facilities at the industrial hub of Ras Azzour on the Gulf coast.
{{/usCountry}}In May, SAR started initial operations on a 1,392-km mineral line, linking phosphate mines at Al Jalamaid and a bauxite mine at Az-Zabirah to processing facilities at the industrial hub of Ras Azzour on the Gulf coast.
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