Skip to main content

Royal HaskoningDHV scoops public transport project

A joint venture comprising Dutch consultancy and engineering company Royal HaskoningDHV and Saudi Arabian Mshari Al-Shathri engineering consultant has been appointed by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Transport to prepare a feasibility study and preliminary design for a first public transport system for Dammam. The objective of the system is to alleviate congestion in the area, which has seen significant growth in recent years. Increasing use of private cars has led to congestion and at current growth rates,
July 26, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
A joint venture comprising Dutch consultancy and engineering company 6132 Royal HaskoningDHV and Saudi Arabian Mshari Al-Shathri engineering consultant has been appointed by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Transport to prepare a feasibility study and preliminary design for a first public transport system for Dammam.

The objective of the system is to alleviate congestion in the area, which has seen significant growth in recent years.  Increasing use of private cars has led to congestion and at current growth rates, experts are forecasting gridlock across the Dammam urban road network within a few years.
 
The project entails a feasibility study and preliminary design for a combination of 50 km of light rail, 110 km of bus rapid transit system and 350 km of feeder buses in Dammam Metropolitan Area, including King Fahd International Airport.  The approach will be multidisciplinary and include public transport planning, infrastructure design, urban integration, operation planning, business case preparation, and procurement strategy.

Undersecretary for Transport Affairs, Dr Abdul Aziz Al-Ohaly said: “In order to improve mobility and to alleviate urban congestion, reduce noise and air pollution we realise that we need to encourage people to use public transport.”

Nils den Hartog, project manager for Royal HaskoningDHV said: “Public transport is currently almost non-existent in this car-dominated city where petrol costs no more than 15 cents per litre. A key challenge of this project will be the successful introduction of such a system.”

Related Content

  • April 29, 2015
    NOCoE delivers data for diligent DOTs
    David Crawford talks to Dennis Motiani about the role of the new National Operations Centre of Excellence. Consolidating the collective experience of the US transportation system’s management and operations (TSM&O) community, streamlining its information gathering, while cutting research times and costs are the key drivers behind the country’s new National Operations Centre of Excellence (NOCoE). Launched in January at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), this sets out to be a sin
  • April 30, 2025
    It’s official: 20 (or 30) really is plenty
    A study has looked at what 20mph (30 km/h) speed limits mean in terms of road safety – and the answers are encouraging. Alan Dron speaks to transport researcher Aud Tennøy…
  • October 29, 2014
    Auckland considers road user charging to plug funding shortfall
    Auckland, New Zealand, faces a US$9.5 billion transport funding gap to build the fully-integrated transport network set out in the 30-year Auckland Plan that includes new roads, rail, ferries, busways, cycle-ways and supporting infrastructure needed to cope with a population set to hit 2.5 million in the next three decades. If Auckland opts to pay for the fully-integrated Auckland Plan, Auckland Council officials claim the transport network congestion is expected to improve by 20 per cent over the next 1
  • May 2, 2022
    How Covid has impacted transportation
    How have Covid-induced changes in transportation impacted health? And how can transport companies mitigate these effects? Soheil Sohrabi of S-Plus-M and Texas A&M University explains