Thales, a technology leader for the aerospace, transport, defence and security markets, said it has been awarded a one-year contract to maintain a 2,400-km railway line - mineral and passenger - of the North South Railway project in Saudi Arabia.

The contract, which is renewable, demonstrates the trust relationship built with Saudi Railway Company over years of collaboration to deploy the complete transportation systems on the line, said a statement from the French multinational.

According to Thales, the North-South Railway (NSR) project is the world's largest railway construction scheme and the longest route to adopt the European signalling system (ETCS level 2), it stated.

The 2,400-km passenger and freight rail line originates in the Saudi capital city Riyadh, in the northwest of the country, and extends to Al Haditha, near the border with Jordan.

The freight line - streching 1,486 km from Al Jalamid (phosphate belt) to Az Zabirah (bauxite belt) - has been operational since November last year, while the 1,418-km-passenger line from Riyadh to Haditha will become operational by the end of 2016, said the French company.

The maintenance contract includes the corrective activities as well as predictive maintenance. This will enable rail operators to fix assets before they fail, it added.

Thales is one of the leading providers of signalling solutions and equipment’s maintenance worldwide and particularly in Europe which adopts this new state-of-the-art ETCS technology.-TradeArabia News Service