By Kevin Smith  www.railjournal.com
THE High Commission for Riyadh Development (HCRD) says that “three major global consortia” have submitted technical and financial offers for the Riyadh Metro project, a six-line driverless network which will eventually encompass 177km and 96 stations in the Saudi capital.
HCRD says a global team of 80 experts will analyse the bids and present their recommendations “in the near future” to the Supreme Committee. The committee is chaired by Riyadh governor Prince Khalid bin Bandar, who is also chairman of HCRD, and will personally select the winning consortium.Trains will operate at an average of 40km/h on the network and will be divided into first, family and single accommodation. All stations and coaches will be air conditioned while the network will be served by four interchange and five park-and-ride stations while a central traffic control centre will handle all operations.The network will serve the following areas of Riyadh:
• Blue Line: Olyay – Batha – Al Hayer Road (39km)
• Green Line: King Abdullah Road (25km)
• Red Line: Madina Al Munawara-Amir Saad bin Abdul Rahman Al Awal Road (40km)
• Orange Line: to King Khaled International Airport (30km)
• Yellow Line: King Abdul Aziz Road (13km)
• Purple Line: Abdul Rahman bin Ouf – Shaikh Hassan bin Hussain bin Ali (30km)
