Saudi Arabian Railways (SAR) has awarded an estimated SR4bn-plus ($1.1bn) contract to add another track to the first section of the existing phosphate transport railway network in the kingdom’s Eastern Province.

The contract was awarded to local firm Alomaier Trading & Contracting Company.

The scope includes track doubling, alignment modifications, utility bridges, culvert widening and hydrological structures, as well as the conversion of the AZ1 siding into a mainline track.

The scope also covers support for signalling and telecommunications systems.

The existing railway line runs from the Waad Al-Shamal mines to Ras Al-Khair. The new project will cover about 100 kilometres (km), connecting the AZ1/Nariyah Yard to Ras Al-Khair.

Switzerland-based engineering firm ARX is the project consultant.

The project is the first of four packages for the phosphate railway line that SAR is expected to award imminently.

In 2023, MEED reported that SAR was planning two projects to increase its freight capacity, including an estimated SR4.2bn ($1.1bn) project to install a second track on the North Train freight line and construct three new freight yards.

Formerly known as the North-South Railway, the North Train is a 1,550km-long freight line running from the phosphate and bauxite mines in the far north of the kingdom to the Al-Baithah junction. There, it diverges into a line southward to Riyadh and a second line running east to downstream fertiliser production and alumina refining facilities at Ras Al-Khair on the Gulf coast.

Adding a second track and the freight yards will significantly increase cargo-carrying capacity on the network and facilitate growth in industrial production. Project implementation is expected to take four years.

State-owned SAR is also considering increasing the localisation of railway-focused materials and equipment, including the construction of a cement sleeper manufacturing facility.