State-owned Saudi Railway Company expects to award civil works contracts for a 2,400-km railway this year connecting mineral mines to industrial plants on the Gulf coast.

Saudi Railway Company, which is owned by the ministry of finance's Public Investment Fund, also expects to tender contracts for stations and passenger trains this year, Rumaih Alrumaih, deputy chief executive officer for operations, said on the sidelines of a railways conference in Dubai.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, is spending billions of dollars to expand its rail network and meet the needs of its growing population of 25 million.

The North-South railway will carry minerals from the Al-Jalamid and Al-Zabirah mines in the north to the industrial city of Ras Al-Zour and operate a passenger and freight train between Riyadh and al-Haditha on the Jordanian border.

France's Thales and Saudi Binladin Group signed in April a 340 million euro ($463.5 million) contract that includes the supply of signalling and telecommunication and other systems to the North-South line. - Reuters