Major rail contractors from Spain, Italy, China, Turkey, South Korea, Germany and France are vying for lucrative construction contracts linked to Segments two, three and four of Oman’s ambitious National Railway Project, said a report.

The three segments cover a distance of more than 1,200 km stretching from Hafeet on the sultanate’s border with the UAE in the north, all the way down to Salalah in the far south of the country, reported the Oman Observer.

Together with Segment One, which extends from Sohar Port to Buraimi on the sultanate’s border with the UAE, they represent the strategic backbone of the country’s rail network linking the country’s three maritime gateways at Sohar, Duqm and Salalah with the GCC rail system, it added.

While Segment Three runs 488 km from Al Dhahirah Special Economic Zone to Duqm Special Economic Zone via Haima, Sections 4a and 4b take the national railway line south from Haima all the way to Thamrait in Dhofar Governorate.

Oman Rail said a number of prominent naional construction firms are also in the race for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts as members of consortiums.

The list of prequalified groups include Salini Impregilo (Italy); a joint venture of Saipem (Italy), Rizzani de Eccher (Italy) and Dogus (Turkey); a JV of Porr Bau (Austria), Yuksel (Turkey), Daewoo Engineering and Construction (South Korea), and Sarooj Construction (Oman); JV of Acciona Infrastructuras (Spain), STFA (Turkey) and Tecnimont Civil Construction (Italy); JV of Astaldi (Italy) and Samsung Construction &Trading (Korea); JV of China State Construction Engineering Corporation (China), Larsen & Toubro (India) and SK Engineering & Construction (Korea); JV of China Railway Construction Corporation (China) and Oman National Engineering & Investment Company (Oman); JV of Corsan-Corviam Construccion (Spain), Cooperative Muratori & Cementesti (Italy), Orascom Construction (Egypt) and Zubair Construction (Oman); JV of Eiffage Travaux Public (France), Yapi Merkazi (Turkey), and GS Engineering & Construction (Korea); JV of Condote d’Acqua (Italy), Itinera (Italy) and SWS Engineering (Italy); JV of Strabag (Germany)/ and Consolidated Contractor Group (Greece) and JV of Vinci Constrution (France), Aktoor (Greece) and Vinci Contruction Terrassement (France).

Under a separate prequalification tender, Oman Rail had invited railroad contractors with experience in undertaking complex civil infrastructures, to prequalify for the 93-km Thamrait-Salalah stretch, representing Section 4c of the national rail network.

This section traverses mountainous terrain, thus necessitating the construction of a large number of major bridges, tunnels and viaducts along this stretch.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on the 207-km Sohar Port-Buraimi stretch, representing the maiden segment of Oman’s 2,135-km National Railway Network, the report said.

Three groups are in the shortlist for this prestigious segment, a contract award for which is expected shortly, it added.