Riyadh Metro Project

Introduction

Public transport systems are vital in any city as they give an indication of how well cities are organized. Traffic congestion in major cities has increasingly become a problem with the growing population. The need for rapid transport system in public transport sector is of importance. Public transport in Riyadh is facing the same challenges like many cities. Public transport in Riyadh is unable to accommodate for its current population growth.

This report concerns Riyadh metro project that attempts to address the demands of the growing population in the city. Riyadh metro is a rapid transport system that will be part of Rapid Public Transport Project (RPTP). The RPTP will comprise construction of a metro, a bus network system, and other transport service. The construction is expected to take 5 years for completion. The project will have an execution period of ten years and an optional maintenance service period of five years. The bus network will be a three-line Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) network that will connect major cities.

All Riyadh metro train stations and bus network will be integrated. Riyadh metro will have six lines and overall 85 stations in the network. The total distance of the lines is 176.4km long with six lines and 85 stations including underground, elevated and at-grade sections. Line 1 will be 44km long running from Olaya Street to Al Hayer Road. Line 2 will be 22km long connecting King Abdullah Road to the King Fahad Stadium. Line 3 will be 45km long running from Madina Al Munawra to Rahman Al Awal Road. Line 4 will connect King Khaled International Airport to the new King Abdullah Finance District (KAFD). Line 5 will be 26km long and will start from King Abdul Aziz. Line 6 will be 30km long connecting Abdul Rahman bin Ouf Street to Shaikh Hassan bin Hussain bin Ali Street.

There will be three major stations namely; Olaya, Downtown, and King Abdullah Financial District metro stations. Olaya metro station will be located at the intersection of the Metro Lines 1 and 2. A public plaza with a large entrance hall will be featured. Downtown station will be located between Al Madinah Al Munnawarah Street and King Faisal Street and will be a transport hub for metro lines 1 and 3. King Abdullah Financial district will be located at the east of Northern Ring. The station will serve lines 1, 4, and 6 of the metro. Metro stations will have renewable power. Setting up the Riyadh metro project will solve the problem of traffic congestion and improve air quality. The public will gain in getting jobs related to this project either direct or indirectly.

The world’s public largest infrastructure project is soon to start. The timescale is impressive as the project is given a time period of five years for completion. The schedule given to the six lines is a period of five years. The Saudi government through the Public Investment Fund is financing the project. According to ADA, the city will be transformed by the network. The overall budget of the Riyadh metro project is approximated to be 36.436 billion U.S. dollars.

Project Description and Work Schedule   

The metro will dissect through most congested areas of the city. The six standard gauge lines and 87 stations across the network will be air-conditioned. The modern district in the north of central Riyadh will be served by most of the lines. The western terminus for lines 4 and 6 is the KAFD station. Lines 2 and 3 will meet line 6 and lines 4 and 6 will have a common depot. The aspect of elevation of16.7km stretch of line 4’s with 6.9km at grade and 5.9km in cut-and-cover tunnel. The 38km north-south line1 is designed to serve KAFD and will link it with Olaya business district. The route will consist of a 17.5km bored tunnel and 15.6km elevated. Line 5 will serve Olaya hence providing interchange with line 2. It will be running along King Abdul Aziz Road. About 10km in bored tunnel, line 5 will run entirely underground. This design is very complex as there are many intertwined techniques to be used.

The main east-west routes are line 2 and 3 with line 3 having 40.7km and being the longest on the network. Two thirds of the line would be elevated alignment with bored tunnel of 3.2km in cut-and-cover tunnel and a grade of 5km. There will be 22 stations for the line in the southern part. Line 2 would have 16 stations and running 25.3km along Abdullah Road. Only 5.3km would be elevated and a 3km borred tunnel hence most of the line would be grade in a road median strip. Provision of interchange with lines 1, 5, and 6 whereby there will be 16 stations.

Riyadh transport project incorporates the bus rapid transport project. The network of the three-line Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) will be 85km stretch. There will be two 83km complete circular lines in the system. A distance of 405km will be covered by the 18-line community bus service. A designed centrally placed Traffic Control Centre (TCC) will enhance the delivery of world class customer service experience for the public transport system. The Intelligent Transport Systems will coordinate the entire transport network.  

Riyadh Metro Six Standard Gauge Lines.  

Line	Route	Length (km)
1 blue	Olaya Street-Batha street-Al Hayer Road	38.0
2 green	King Abdullah Road	25.3
3 red	Madina Al Munawra-Amir Saad bin Abdul Rahman Al Awal Road	40.7
4 orange	King Abdullah Finance District-King Khaled International Airport	29.6
5 yellow	King Abdul Aziz Road	12.9
6 purple	Abdul Rahman bin Ouf Street-King Abdullah Finance District	29.9
Total		176.4

Task Duration

No.	Activity	year 1	Year 2	year 3	year 4	year 5
1	Construction of Line 1
2	Construction of Line 2
3	Construction of Line 3
4	Construction of Line 4
5	Construction of Line 5
6	Construction of Line 6
8	Designing the Olaya station
9	Designing the Qasr Al Hokm
10	Designing of King Abdullah finance District

Resources Assignment

There are three divisional packages in the program. Package one is for lines 1 and2, second for line 3 and third package for lines 4, 5, and 6. Winners of the contract to construct were announced by Arryadh Development Authority. Contract to design and build turnkey for line 1 and 2 was awarded to BACS consortium. The contract will take an estimate of 9.45 billion U.S. dollars for completion. The contract would be shared to Siemens for rolling stock, signaling, and electrification equipment and will cost 2.17 billion U.S. dollars. The train signaling and WLAN-based control system will be designed in supporting unattended driverless operation. This technology will improve the efficiency of the overall system in the aspect of speed and time.

Designing and building line 3 was awarded to the Arriyadh New Mobility consortium and it is calculated to cost 5.21 billion U.S. dollars. There are two groups within consortium; the Electrical Work Group will deliver electrical and mechanical equipment, the Civil Work Group of Salini-Impregilo will deliver infrastructure. The consortium will provide automation systems, CBTC, and third rail power supplies for 680 million U.S. dollars. The consortium has another contract of building the landmark Qasr Al Hokm and west stations worth 5.9 billion U.S. dollars. They have a potential opportunity of maintenance services of the line for 10 years’ worth 249 million U.S. dollars. The contract for project management and construction supervision for lines 1, 2, and, 3 was awarded to the Riyadh Metro Transit Consultants joint venture of Parsons, Egis and Systra. The project is worth 556 million U.S. dollars. The contract for building lines 4, 5, and 6 is worth 7.82 billion U.S dollars and was given to the FAST consortium led by Spanish group FCC. In order to meet the limited construction deadline, the companies would focus on the key strengths.

Driverless trains will operate each line and will offer first, family, and standard class accommodation, as well as Wi-Fi. The decision in implementation of unified design for all train sets by ADA despite the fact that the vehicles come from three suppliers. Supply of 74 Inspiro metro cars in two-and four-car sets for lines 1 and 2 is given by Siemens. The trainsets will have air-conditioners, body shell made from aluminium, maximum speed of 90km/hr, and regenerative braking. The bogies and traction systems with designed filters and door seals will reduce sand ingress. The supply of 47 two-car driverless Innovia Metro 300 trains with Mitrac traction equipment as well as the contract for line 3 is taken care by Bombardier Transportation. The contract for lines 4, 5, and 6 and supply of the 69 two-car Metropolis 36m long and 2710mm wide automated trainsets is handled by Alstom worth 1.8 billion U.S dollars. Regenerated electricity is only possible to be returned to the grid by provision of Urbalis signaling, mechanized track laying technology and installation of HESOP substations. This latest technologies have not been adopted by other metro projects. It is deemed to be the core principle technologies employed to attain very high efficiencies.

The three main interchanges were chosen a design by ADA before awarding the construction contracts. The project will only be feasible with the best conceptual design. Riyadh streets will be transformed as the iconic stations become most visible elements of the new world-class public transport system of the city. The designing teams were chosen based on their outstanding conceptual design. Consortium of Zaha Hadid Architects will design King Abdullah finance District. The 20434 will have four levels for the public and two levels underground for car parking. Optimizing circulation will be achieved as the station would be the center of footpaths, bridges, and metro lines networks. A bridge required to reach a 3.6km driverless monorail are plans that will provide local transport within financial district when it opens.

Olaya station will be designed by Gerber Architekten of Germany at the intersection of line 1 and 2. Elevated public gardens and an undulating roof will be featured by the station. Viewing across all four storeys of the building through the provision of large open entrance will be possible. The whole scenario will give a naturally imposed environment to the people within the area. Qasr Al Hokm will be designed by the Snohetta of Norway. It will be located at the intersection of lines 1 and 3 in Al Madinah Al Munnawarah Street and King Faisal Street. Natural light will illuminate down to the underground concourse through a large canopy to create a shaded plaza. This will give a natural and beautiful scenario within the station.

Cost Analysis (Budget)

Contractor	Contract	Cost (U.S Dollars)
BACS consortium	Contract to design and build turnkey for line 1 and 2	9.45 billion
Arriyadh New Mobility consortium	Designing and building line 3	5.21 billion
Arriyadh New Mobility consortium	Building the landmark Qasr Al Hokm and west stations	5.9 billion
Riyadh Metro Transit Consultants	Construction supervision for lines 1, 2, and, 3	556 million
FAST consortium led by Spanish group FCC	Building lines 4, 5, and 6	7.82 billion
Gerber Architekten of Germany	Designing the Olaya station	2.1 billion
Snohetta of Norway	Designing the Qasr Al Hokm	2.8 billion
Consortium of Zaha Hadid Architects	Designing of King Abdullah finance District	2.6 billion
Total		36.436 billion

Conclusion

There are challenges that will accompany in this project. There are two main factors that the equipment has to adapt in the desert is temperature and sand ingress. The experiences acquired in Dubai and Makkah by Systra will be employed in this project. Comparison between the Riyadh project and Doha metro is same but the only difference is that the scale of Riyadh project is high. Riyadh project is considered to be the largest public transport project globally.  Latest technology would be employed intensively to make the project a success.

References

Reardon, S. (2014). Ambitious plans for BRAIN project unveiled. Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2014.15375

O’Sullivan, S., & Morrall, J. (1996). Walking Distances to and from Light-Rail Transit Stations. Transportation Research Record, 1538(1), 19-26. doi:10.3141/1538-03