Skip to main content

Siemens constructing driverless subway in Riyadh

A consortium of Siemens, US company Bechtel and local construction companies Almabani and Consolidated Contractors Company has been awarded a subway contract worth US$10 billion by the Riyadh High Commission for Urban Development (ArRiyadh Development Authority). Siemens, whose share of the deal is worth around US$2.1 billion, is supplying subway rolling stock, electrification systems and signalling technology for driverless operation, as well as system integration.
October 11, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
A consortium of 189 Siemens, US company Bechtel and local construction companies Almabani and Consolidated Contractors Company has been awarded a subway contract worth US$10 billion by the Riyadh High Commission for Urban Development (ArRiyadh Development Authority).

Siemens, whose share of the deal is worth around US$2.1 billion, is supplying subway rolling stock, electrification systems and signalling technology for driverless operation, as well as system integration.

With a population of five million, the city, which previously relied primarily on diesel buses for its urban transit needs, intends the investment in the six-line, 175 kilometre metro as a step towards modernisation of the traffic infrastructure.

The signalling and train control technology ensures that, particularly during rush-hour periods, trains can operate at 90-second intervals, an operating frequency that enables the system to handle 21,000 passengers per hour. The two lines will be equipped with WLAN-based control system for driverless and conductor-less train operation, as well as automatic train control, radio transmission and 31 electronic interlocking systems. Siemens is also equipping the operations control centre for both lines.

Siemens will also supply the power supply systems, emergency power facilities with diesel generators and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). The power supply systems use the electrical energy generated by the trains when the brakes are applied, which is fed back into the metro system's power supply and made available for all other electrical loads.

Siemens will also deliver a total of 74 aluminium metro vehicles, designed to run on standard-gauge track at a top speed of 90 km/h.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Keolis begins first section of metro system in Hyderabad, India
    December 4, 2017
    Keolis has begun operating the first section, 30km, of a new automated metro system of Hyderabad, Telangana State, South East India. The project, launched by the Telangana government, will run across a 68km network of three lines and 65 stations in the next few years. Once completed, it is estimated to carry 1.3 million passengers daily aims to reduce road congestion and boost the local economy.
  • Qatar invests $70 billion to pave the way to world beating transportation
    July 26, 2013
    Eng. Zeina Nazer looks at what Qatar’s recently-announced investment in transport infrastructure will mean on the ground. Qatar is experiencing a rapid economic and industrial growth. This growth is characterised by a rapid population increase and by the urgent need towards the development of both infrastructure projects and major transport projects. In order to handle this rate of development within Qatar, Public Works Authority (Ashghal) is developing a fully-integrated multimodal transportation system in
  • Fast moving walkways could move 7,000 people per hour
    November 28, 2016
    Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) researchers have been studying futuristic transport solutions for car-free urban centres and have come up with an optimal design for a network of accelerating moving walkways. This is not a new concept – the first moving walkways were seen in Chicago in 1893 and seven years later they were used at the world’s fair in Paris. They are also regularly used the world over in airports and transport terminals. As part of the PostCarW
  • Microgrids & the new power generation
    August 31, 2021
    Public transportation agencies are turning to microgrids to provide critical resilience in the event of local and regional power interruptions. Gordon Feller looks at projects in Maryland, New Jersey and Massachusetts