North-South Passenger and Freight Railway Extension

Construction Phase

After having led the feasibility and preliminary studies, and the detailed design of Civil Works and Track infrastructure, SYSTRA Canada and SYSTRA teamed with Saudi Consolidated Engineering Company – K&A and the Louis Berger Group (LBG) for the Implementation Supervision Consultancy contract. The JV employed approximately 250 permanent employees in Saudi Arabia.

In addition to its primary role in the project management and contract administration of the entire project, SYSTRA Canada played a lead role in all railway technical activities related to the design and supervision. SYSTRA Canada also handled the following sub-scope.

Component D: Rolling Stock Procurement

SAR acquired new locomotives, various types of freight wagons and coaches, as well as track maintenance equipment. Not only did SYSTRA Canada provide support throughout the procurement process, but it also held the following responsibilities:

• Management of Component D;
• Validation of the rolling stock types and models;
• Preparation of implementation plans;
• Preparation of technical specifications and tender documents;
• Technical input during evaluation and contract award;
• Manufacturing supervision and quality control services as well as commissioning services (consisting of factory acceptance tests and site acceptance tests).

Component E: Assistance in the Procurement of a Rail Operator

Due to the shortage of local railway operations experts, SAR elected to hire a railway operator to operate trains on its behalf for a 5-year period. Before the railway could proceed with issuing a procurement request seeking an operator or operators, it had to make a number of decisions regarding how it wanted the railway to be operated, and the type of contractual relationship it wanted with the operator. The railway could have been awarded as a concession to a private investment or be operated on a purely management contract basis. SYSTRA Canada’s mandate was to present and analyze the options and make specific recommendations.

This component included the following tasks:

• Examining and presenting options for selecting a railway operator for the North-South railway;
• Reviewing the current legal and legislative framework governing railway operation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;
• Conducting a thorough analysis of the options available to structure an operating agreement and make recommendations for the optimal solution;
• Preparing a draft operating contract;
• Defining bid evaluation criteria and assisting SAR with bid evaluation and the award of an operating contract.

Component G: Detailed Design of Facilities, Including Maintenance Shops, Track and Maintenance Gang Facilities, and Passenger Stations

SYSTRA Canada was involved in the Detailed Design of Facilities. Its specialists undertook the following tasks:

• Providing the technical and functional requirements for SAR’s new locomotive, wagon, stores and all track, signals and maintenance gangs buildings;
• Developing the overall dimensions of these shops and determining the various repair tasks and procedures within the workshop;
• Preparing the specifications based on the latest industry standards of all the heavy machinery, both fixed and mobile;
• Developing the technical criteria matrix for the selection of equipment suppliers, evaluating the suppliers, awarding the contracts, inspection and commission of equipment and machinery.

Component H: Detailed Design of Signaling and Telecommunications Systems

SYSTRA Canada participated in the establishment of the Detailed Design of signaling (ERTMS Level 2) and telecommunication systems. After conducting a needs and requirements analysis, the team identified the most appropriate solution to fulfill the needs of the NSR Project. Technical specifications along with conceptual design and typical installation drawings were then developed and submitted to SAR, before being included in the tender documentation.