The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) received bids from contractors on 31 January for a contract to design and build Riyadh Metro’s Line 7.

The project involves constructing a metro line linking the Qiddiya entertainment city development, King Abdullah International Gardens, King Salman Park, Misk City and Diriyah Gate. The total length of the line will be about 65 kilometres (km), of which 47km will be underground and 19km will be elevated.

The line will have 19 stations, 14 of which will be built underground and five above ground.

According to sources close to the project, the consortiums that were planning to bid for the contract include:

• Alstom (France) / Webuild (Italy) / Nesma (local)
• Siemens (Germany) / FCC (Spain) / FreyssinetContracting (local) / Almabani (local)
• Hitachi Rail (Japan) / L&T (India) / Albawani (local) / Kalyon (Turkiye) / Cengiz (Turkiye)
• CRRC (China) / Mapa (Turkiye) / Limak (Turkiye)

Spanish consulting firms Typsa and Ayesa, along with US-based Aecom, are the design consultants for the Alstom-led consortium.

Spain-headquartered Idom and South Korea’s Dowha are the designers for the Siemens-led team.

Spanish engineering firm Sener and US-based Jacobs are the design consultants for the Hitachi Rail-led group.

The consultants working on the scheme are France’s Egis and Lebanon-based Dar Al-Handasah, according to regional projects trackerMEED Projects.

In June 2020, a joint venture led by French consultancy Systra won the preliminary design contract for the second phase of Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Metro.

Riyadh Metro’s first phase features six lines with 84 stations. The RCRC completed the phased roll-out of the Riyadh Metro network when it started operating the Orange Line in January this year.

Construction has also begun on the next phase of Riyadh Metro, the extension of Line 2.

In July last year,MEED exclusively reportedthat RCRC had awarded an estimated $800m-$900m contract for the project.

The contract was awarded to the Arriyadh New Mobility Consortium, led by Italy’s Webuild. The group also includes India’s L&T, Saudi Arabia’s Nesma & Partners and France’s Alstom.

Line 3, also known as the Orange Line, stretches from east to west, from Jeddah Road to the Second Eastern Ring Road, covering a total distance of 41km.

The line spans 8.4km, of which 1.3km is elevated and 7.1km is underground. It includes five stations – two elevated and three underground.

It will run from the current terminus of Line 2 at King Saud University (KSU) and continue to new stations at KSU Medical City, KSU West, Diriyah East and Diriyah Central – where it will interchange with the planned Line 7 – before terminating at Diriyah South.