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Discussion about railroad topics everywhere outside of Canada and the United States.

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 #1008445  by Jeff Smith
 
The deal includes building, maintaining, and operating the line for 12 years. Guess oil pays (something we should consider with some of the new technologies like shale, etc., and Keystone Pipeline).

Cross-posting to Worldwide....

http://www.rail.co/2012/01/17/talgo-to- ... rail-line/

Brief, fair-use quote:
A Spanish consortium, led by Talgo and Renfe has signed a contract for a high speed rail line connecting Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

The contract is valued at €6.9 billion.

The contract involves the construction, operation and 12 year maintenance of the Haramain High Speed Rail line.
 #1194062  by george matthews
 
Jeff Smith wrote:The deal includes building, maintaining, and operating the line for 12 years. Guess oil pays (something we should consider with some of the new technologies like shale, etc., and Keystone Pipeline).

Cross-posting to Worldwide....

http://www.rail.co/2012/01/17/talgo-to-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... rail-line/

Brief, fair-use quote:
A Spanish consortium, led by Talgo and Renfe has signed a contract for a high speed rail line connecting Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

The contract is valued at €6.9 billion.

The contract involves the construction, operation and 12 year maintenance of the Haramain High Speed Rail line.
Just a note to mention Saudi interest in railways. They don't seem interested in general traffic needs. I have seen the eastern line which appears to have little freight and not a lot of passenger traffic. (I once rode from the eastern terminus to the oasis station, and back by bus, the only journey permitted by my residence permit.) The western lines would be entirely, or almost entirely, for passenger traffic - the large numbers of pilgrims to the various religious sites on the Red Sea coast. Quite possibly there would be several trains a day.

The pilgrim traffic would be entirely end to end and therefore I would not expect any intermediate stations, other than for technical reasons. I have not heard anything about the state of construction since the original announcement.
 #1309564  by george matthews
 
philipmartin wrote:Interesting learning about Saudi high speed.
I haven't seen Saudi trains for about 20 years. They once had old American trains, bought when the US foolishly gave up on rail passenger transport. Later they ordered French trains. These were for the line from Dammam to Hofuf and Riyadh.

But the new high speed trains are on the other side of the country to cope with the huge numbers of Pilgrims. I don't think they plan a whole network to connect the Red Sea coast to the Gulf coast. Nor do they show any interest in connecting to other states' networks.
 #1345047  by Jeff Smith
 
Railway Gazette

Not sure if this is related to the original deal or not, but it does have Talgo and Saudi Arabia in common....
Saudi Railways Organization cancels Talgo order

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Railways Organization has announced that ‘following the reassessment of our rolling stock needs’ it has decided not to proceed with an order for six 200 km/h Talgo diesel trainsets for use on the Riyadh – Dammam line.

The US$201m contract was announced on February 12 but will not now be signed, SRO said on July 15. A final decision regarding a new tender will be made once SRO’s internal analysis of its needs is finalised.
 #1345148  by george matthews
 
Jeff Smith wrote:Railway Gazette

Not sure if this is related to the original deal or not, but it does have Talgo and Saudi Arabia in common....
Saudi Railways Organization cancels Talgo order

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Railways Organization has announced that ‘following the reassessment of our rolling stock needs’ it has decided not to proceed with an order for six 200 km/h Talgo diesel trainsets for use on the Riyadh – Dammam line.

The US$201m contract was announced on February 12 but will not now be signed, SRO said on July 15. A final decision regarding a new tender will be made once SRO’s internal analysis of its needs is finalised.
I wonder if the current low price of oil is causing the Saudis to have budget problems?
 #1349955  by lpetrich
 
Saudi HS line "on schedule" for 2017 opening | International Railway Journal
"I think we can open the entire line by 1 January 2017 and we have caught up with the delays," Renfe chairman and CEO Mr Pablo Vázquez told IRJ at the UIC High-Speed Rail World Congress in Tokyo on July 8, adding that Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO) plans to open the 320km section between King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Rabigh and Medina earlier than the remainder of the line to Mecca.
Rabigh is on the Red Sea about halfway in between Mecca and Medina.
 #1350747  by george matthews
 
The 'extreme climate' mentioned consists of high temperatures and high humidity in the coastal area. But almost never any rain. On the way from Jeddah to Makkah the edge of the humid zone can be felt when travelling on the road. At the transition point the edge of the humid area is plainly detectable. Going towards the sea one can notice the air change and one feels sweaty. I used to travel by taxi from Taif - high above Jeddah - and noticed the change. Going up it was a relief to get out of the humid air; going down the change was not so pleasant. How this would affect train operation I have no idea.

But I have noticed several newspaper articles about the budget problems Saudi is experiencing with the low price of oil.
 #1350814  by philipmartin
 
A very interesting post about extreme climate; giving us information about that part of the world.
To be less serious, I feel sorry for those zillionaire Saudis and their budget problems.
 #1350905  by george matthews
 
The incompetence of the government is normally covered up by the budget surplus. Now that there is no surplus - quite the reverse - it may be interesting to see what may happen. The overthrow of the regime, followed by Libyan style chaos, would be "interesting".
 #1361220  by philipmartin
 
According to Railways Africa, the Dammam-Riyadh line is being used by 180km/h push-pull passenger trains supplied by Spain.
http://www.railwaysafrica.com/news/fast-saudi-service" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CAF Saudi trains: http://www.caf.es/en/productos-servicio ... .php?p=243" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
CAF (USA) to deliver long-distance equipment to Amtrak, according to a Trains article on Boardman's 2016 retirement.

Below, a photo of a train on the Dammam-Riyadh line.