The Saudi Railways Organisation awarded 9.38 billion riyals ($2.5 billion) in contracts to two consortiums to build four railway stations in the kingdom, it said on Wednesday.   

The winning consortiums were led by Saudi Bin Laden Group and Saudi Oger.

The high-speed Haramain Railway will link Islam's holiest cities of Makkah and Madinah to the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, a key entry point for millions of pilgrims, and to King Abdullah Economic City, currently under construction.
   
Saudi Binladen Group's consortium includes Germany's Deutsche Bahn and Turkey's Yapi Merkezi while Saudi Oger led group includes Italy's Astaldi, Ansaldo, Singapore's ST Electronics  and El Seif + Atkins.

"Two contracts were signed with Saudi Binladen Group for Makkah and Madinah stations. Makkah station with a value of 3 billion riyals and Madinah station with a value of 1.6 billion riyals," SRO's president Abdul Aziz al-Hokail said in an emailed statement.

"The other two contracts were signed with Saudi Oger Ltd, one to build a passenger station in Jeddah worth 2.9 billion riyals, and the other to build KAEC station in Rabigh with a value of 1.8 billion riyals."         

SRO is also studying bids for the second and final phase of the Haramain Railway project which includes the construction of the railway tracks, installation of signal systems and telecommunications as well as the procurement of rolling stock equipment.

It will include infrastructure maintenance for the project for 12 years. - Reuters