The delayed high-speed railway line between Mecca and Medina will finally open in March 2018, the Spanish consortium building the project has announced. The leading companies in the consortium are Renfe, Talgo, and Adif.
The railway line was initially scheduled to open at the end of the year but the date for its completion was moved to the end of 2017. Now, according to a spokesman for the Al-Shoula consortium, “full operations will start in March 2018.” Partial operations will begin a few months earlier, in December.
The contract, worth EUR 6.7 billion, was awarded in 2011. The project involves laying of the 444 kilometres of track between Mecca and Medina, providing 35 trains and maintaining the line for 12 years. According to the spokesman, Saudi authorities agreed to pay an extra 600 million riyals (EUR 150 million) to compensate additional costs of the project.
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