Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for Makkah City & Holy Sites (RCMC) has invited contractors to attend an early market engagement meeting for its long-planned metro network in Mecca.
In an explanatory document inviting companies to attend the September 21 event, the RCMC’s General Transport Centre says it is seeking to gauge market interest in the multi-billion-dollar project and obtain feedback on its proposed procurement approach.
T&TI’s sister publication, MEED, reported in June that the project was restarting. Current plans envisage a four-line network, named lines A-D, with 89 stations and three depots to be implemented over three phases between 2032 and 2045.
Stage 1 would focus on Lines B and C involving 2.4km of tunnelling under the Masar project and integration with the existing Mashaer line.
Running a length of just over 62km, it would comprise 31 stations, 21 of which would be underground, including three iconic stations. A total of 19.5km will run through tunnels, while 41.2km will be elevated, with the remainder at grade level.
Daily passenger capacity on the 66 required trainsets is projected to be about 450,000, equating to an annual ridership of 171 million.
The 84.7km-long second phase, due to be operational by 2038, would extend the two lines toward the outskirts of Mecca, and involve the construction of the initial inner, central segments of Lines A and D.
Totalling 61.1km elevated and 18.6km underground, it is planned to have an additional 45 stations serving the two new lines as well as two depots and a potential interconnection with the planned Saudi Landbridge.
The 59 trainsets for phase 2 would increase the network’s projected total yearly passenger capacity to more than 500 million.
Phase 3 would cover the elevated 36km extension of Lines A and D and see the procurement of a further 72 trainsets to increase the network’s ultimate passenger capacity to 1.2 million daily and 642 million annually by its completion in 2045.
The metro plan also envisages transit-orientated developments – typically commercial, residential and retail elements to maximise the investment case.
The client’s proposed procurement approach is to employ three distinct packages covering the civil and systems works, the TODs, and the operations and maintenance.
The initial concept calls for some of the project to be delivered on a public-private-partnership (PPP) basis.
Following the September 21 job meeting, RCMC will take questions and feedback from interested companies and says it hopes to publish the results of the early market engagement in early November.
The metro project in was launched in 2013 by the then Mecca Mass Rail Transit Company, but the scheme has faltered for more than a decade because funding issues, land acquisition challenges and scope changes.
The relaunch of the procurement process raises hopes that the project will come to fruition although it is likely to be at least 18 months before any definitive works are expected to start.
Mecca is home to Saudi Arabia’s first metro, the nine-station, 18km-long Mashaer line which opened in 2010. It only operates seven days a year during Hajj but carries more than 2 million pilgrims during that time.
This news article was first reported by T&TI’s sister publication, MEED.
