The contract to build Saudi Arabia's North-South Railway has been awarded to French group Thales and construction giant Saudi Binladin Group, a report said.

The contract is valued at 1.7 billion Saudi riyals ($453 million), said the report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister newspaper.

The two companies will build signalling, ticketing, communications and security systems for the entire 2,300-km stretch of the railroad, it said.

The contract's value was updated in the final signing of the deal. An earlier figure of 2 billion riyals was based on estimates from the government and companies, according to the report.

China's CSR Corporation and the US firm ElectroMotive also won contracts to supply respectively wagons and locomotives for the railway.