Planning errors and delays in the work are jeopardizing a high speed rail link between Mecca and Medina, the contract for which was awarded to a consortium of 12 Spanish companies for 6.7 billion euros. The initial planning problems have been aggravated by the complexity of building a 400-kilometer stretch in the desert.
The high speed link will enable the journey between Medina and Mecca to be made in 2 hours and 30 minutes and may be up and running in December 2016. It is expected to carry over 244,000 passengers in 2017 and over 530,000 in 2044.
Spanish media report that a harsh letter was sent in late December to the consortium by the new Saudi transport minister, Abdullah bin Abdulrahman Al-Muqbel (engineer and former mayor of Riyadh), in which he criticized the work after making a surprise inspection of several parts of the rail line. The Saudi minister showed annoyance about the lack of progress made on the ‘pilgrims’ railway’ , calling for the Spanish consortium Al-Shoula to submit an emergency plan within two months to speed up the work or have its contract rescinded. However, no one – neither in the consortium nor in the Saudi government – is able to confirm when the inauguration date set in the contract awarded to the consortium three years ago is. One of the major difficulties is that 48% of the terrain on which the 450 kilometers of the electrified double track is to be laid is sandy flatland subject to five meters of sand movement per second, even under mild wind conditions.
In the most dangerous areas, technicians have built the rails on cement structures – very expensive but easier to clean in order to limit the impact of sand movement. However, while searching for complex engineering solutions, deadlines are being shifted for the opening of several sections of the rail line.
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