The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) has announced that consortiums led by four global majors - French group Alstom, German technology giant Siemens, Japan's Hitachi Rail and Chinese group CRRC - have expressed interest in the design and build contract for Riyadh Metro’s Line 7 project, reported Meed.

A strategic project, the Line 7 will run 65km long, of which 47km will be underground and 19km will be elevated.

The line will have 19 stations in total, of which 14 will be built underground and five above ground.

According to RCRC, the scope of work involves construction of a metro line linking the Qiddiya entertainment city development, King Abdullah International Gardens, King Salman Park, Misk City and Diriyah Gate. 

According to sources close to the project, the consortiums that were planning to bid for the contract include:

On the key bidders, RCRC said the Alstom consortium has Italian contractor Webuild and local group Nesma as partners; while the Siemens consortium boasts Spanish group Freyssinet Contracting (FCC) and local firm Almabani as its members.

For the Line 7 project, the Hitachi Rail consortium has Indian multinational engineering and construction conglomerate L&T and Turkish groups Kalyon and Cengiz as partners along with local firm Albawani, while the Chinese CRRC consortium has Turkish firms Mapa and Limak as its members. 

Spanish consulting firms Typsa and Ayesa, along with US-based Aecom, are the design consultants for the Alstom-led consortium, said the Meed report.

Spain-headquartered Idom and South Korea’s Dowha are the designers for the Siemens-led team, while Spanish engineering firm Sener and US-based Jacobs are the design consultants for the Hitachi Rail-led group.

The consultants working on the scheme are France’s Egis and Lebanon-based Dar Al-Handasah, according to regional projects.

In June 2020, a joint venture led by French consultancy Systra won the preliminary design contract for the second phase of Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Metro.

Last year In July, MEED had exclusively reported that RCRC had awarded an estimated $900 million contract for the project.