Tata Steel will manufacture 60,000t of high-quality rail for a new high-speed line linking the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Steel for the project will be made at Tata Steel’s Scunthorpe, UK, plant before being rolled into rail in lengths of 25m both there and at the company’s plant in Hayange, Northern France.
The new railway will allow millions of pilgrims to cross the 444km distance between the two cities at speeds of 320kmh. The line will run across the desert, withstanding temperatures ranging from freezing to 50°C, as well as sand storms, flash flooding and shifting dunes.
Work on producing the rail will start at the end of this year and is expected to continue throughout 2014. Tata Steel rail has already been used successfully in similarly challenging conditions for projects in Brazil and Mauritania. The new line is expected to carry around 160,000 people a day – and even more during the Hajj pilgrimage. They will be transported on a fleet of 35 new high-speed trains.
The project started in 2009, with an estimated cost of more than EUR 12B. The new rail line is set to open to the public in late 2014 or early 2015.
Spanish construction companies Copasa, Imathia and OHL are responsible for building the line’s superstructure and the track bases, as well as for the line’s mechanisms.
