Metro & Light Rail Projects in Saudi Arabia

Challenges and Solutions

Paul Wren,Strategic Business Development

Director,SAPTCO

5th May 2014

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Key Rail Projects in Saudi Arabia

•East – Central Line

•Mashaaer Train

•Princess Nora University Monorail

•King Abdullah Financial District Monorail

Existing

•Riyadh Metro

•Haramain High Speed Rail

•North – South Railway extensions

Under construction

•Jeddah Metro

•Madinah Metro

•East – West Railway (Land Bridge)

•Makkah Metro

Future planned projects

• GCC Railway

International projects

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Urban Rail Challenges and Solutions

● Construction in very congested cities:

A. Integrated project management to ensure information is clear, diversions are clear and other modes of transport are sequenced to manage the disruption

B. Education and promotion to ensure population and decision makers understand the long-term “gain" v. short-term “pain”

● Cities with no history of metro and urban rail transportation:

A. Marketing and communication - cities will work differently with a metro or urban rail system

B. Metro and urban rail will cause a reduction in congestion initially - but will act as a catalyst for economic growth

C. Whole new approaches to metropolitan living with cultural, accessibility and development impacts

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Urban Rail Challenges and Solutions

● Integration of bus and urban rail:

A. Urban bus networks change their role, from primary public transport to feeder and secondary route roles

B. Urban bus will benefit from urban rail and metro - greater awareness of public transportation generally

● How cities work with efficient urban transportation:

A. Accessibility to / from and within the city dramatically improves

B. Customer-focused businesses, future malls and future residential areas will gravitate towards metro stations and transport hubs

C. Transport related development in and around metro and urban rail stations - becoming origins and destinations in their own right (over time)

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Urban Rail Challenges and Solutions

● Key challenges for the GCC:

A. Access to/from metro stations and between transport modes

B. Pedestrian access can be limited, and the climate prevents pedestrian access during parts of the year

C. Changing citizen’s behaviour - a greater proportion of the population in Saudi Arabia has no experience of urban rapid transport

D. Getting the right mix of transport in cities - how many buses, how many metro routes

E. How to deliver all of the transport – bidders / operators and consultants have finite resources available

F. Ultimately, how to jump 150 years of transport design and history in a single leap - the biggest challenge of all

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Inter-Urban rail challenges and solutions

● SAPTCO’s role will expand with the development of urban rail routes:

A. Feeder bus routes to/from urban and inter-urban stations

B. Through bus-rail ticketing

C. Integrated public transport information

● Creation of regional transportation hubs around rail stations

● Changes to the overall mix of options (air / rail / coach / car):

A. Will need very good multimodal information to allow passengers to make rational choices

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Concluding thoughts

● Clarity of purpose of infrastructure - cargo or passenger -

Economic returns, strategic choices

● Enabling potential passenger or cargo customers - what are

the expected benefits for users and how can they be

explained?

● How can rail make a difference within GCC countries and

between GCC countries? Economic and geographic mobility

changes

● How can existing transport providers adapt their business

model to act as a feeder or complementary mode, rather

than simply competing

Thank YouSAPTCO

P.O.Box:10667Riyadh:11443

T. +966 11 288 44 00F. +966 11 288 44 11

Saudi Arabia

www.saptco.com.sa