SAR - North South Railway

Environmental Challenges
Gassim Al-Gassim
Deputy CEO for Projects
Saudi Railway Company (SAR)

Introduction
The initial studies were carried out over 15 years ago to develop
the North-South Railway.

Council of Ministers on May 22, 2006 approved the licensing of a

new company named Saudi Railway Company (SAR) a wholly
owned by the Public Investment Fund of the Ministry of Finance,
will manage the Implementation and operation & Maintenance.

Overall objective of PIF/SAR is to ensure timely implementation of

operating North-South Railway to carry Maadens mineral traffic
in an economical fashion from mines at Al Jalamid and Az Zabirah
to industrial facilities in RasAzZawr. In addition, it is planned to
operate passenger and general freight between Riyadh and Al
Haditha on the Jordanian Border .

 Design JV Contract awarded to CANARAIL, SYSTRA and Khatib &

Alami in March 2004.

Implementation Supervision Consultant (ISC) Contract Louis

Berger Group Inc., in association with CANARAIL Consultants Inc.,
SYSTRA and Khatib & Alami Engineering and Construction
signed on 29th November 2005.

Contracting Strategy based on International Competitive Bidding

commenced in March 2006.

Quantities In SAR Project

Item
No.

Item

Total

Total alignment length

2380 km

Concrete-bridges

114

Concrete-Culverts

2679

Earth work

497 million m

Earth work in AnNafud

0,915 million m /km

Sleepers

More than 4.600.000 units

Rails

More than 286.000 tones

Railway Expansion Program in Saudi Arabia

Al Haditha

Existing Network
North-South Railway
Saudi Landbridge
Western Railway

Al Jalamid Mine

Syria
Iraq

Al Jawf

Iran

Al Basayta

Kuwait

Jordan

Ras Az Zawr

Gu
lf

Egypt

Jubail

Az Zabirah Mine

Dammam

Buraydah

Al Hufuf

Al Madinah

ea
dS
Re

Eritrea
Sudan

Hail

Bahrain
Qatar
United Arab Emirates

Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia

Oman

Yemen
Gulf of Aden

Yanbu

(Medina)

Riyadh

Haradh

Arabian Sea

Jeddah

Makkah
(Mecca)

Ethiopia

Somalia

THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA RAILWAY EXPANSION PROGRAM

Minerals, Passengers and General Freight Alignment

Al-Haditha
Station

Al-Basayta
Station

Al-Jalamid
Mines
CTW 300 750 Km from An Nafud to Al-Haditha,

HazmThree
AL Jalamid
and Al Basayta
major contracts,
7.2 Billion Saudi Riyals,
rd
Awarded
to Al-Rashid
Barclay
Mowlem
Mitsui
awarded
on 3 April
2007
for theCivil
and Track
CTW
200

440Km
from
Az
Zabirah
Junction, to
Consortium
Works In (Eastern Region , Al-Qassim , Hail , Al-Jowf
An Nafud
Awarded
JV of China
And Northern
Boarder
Region), to
asthe
following
:
th
Railway
18
Bureau
and
AlSuwaiket
Co.
Al-Jowf Station 877 Million Saudi Riyals An Nafud - 4.2-2
CTWawarded
100 576 Km from Az Zabirah Mine to Ras AzThe total
length
of
the project is approx. (2400 Km)
to Al-Khodari
Co.
Zawr Awarded to Saudi Binladen Group..

The total length of (Mineral)service is (1486 Km)

Hail Station
939 Million Saudi Riyals
An Nafud 4.2-1 awarded
Bauxite Mine/Junction
to Al-Omaier / Al Fahad Co.
CTW 400 Recently Awarder with
contract value 2.7 Billion Saudi
Al-Qassim
Station
Riyals

The total
length
of (Passenger,ganeral
freight)
460Km
from
Az Zabirah
Junction to
services
is (1418toKm)
KKIA
Awarded
Al Ayuni, Al
Omaier & CCECC.

Industrial
Station in
Sudair

Ras Az Zawr
Jubail

Majmaah
Station
Riyadh Station

NSR Integration Into GCC Network

GCC

NSR

SRO

Landbridge

Passenger Stations
* SAR project include six passenger stations :

Riyadh (King Khaled Airport)

Sudair .
Qassim .
Hail .
jowf .
haditha .

Internal
view

Executive Class

Passenger Stations

External view

interior view

Headquarter

External view

Yard Facilities
* SAR project include
nine yard facilities :

Riyadh .
Sudair .
Qassim .
Hail .
jowf .
Basitah .
Ras Az Zawar .
Jubail
haditha .
-9-

Design and Operational Considerations

Maximum Axle Loads: 32.4 tones/axle.

Maximum Gradients:
0.5 % loaded mineral direction.
1.5 % Passenger, general freight and empty
mineral direction.

Train Speeds:

Mineral loaded:
80 km/hr
Mineral empty:
100 km/hr
General Freight:
120 km/hr
Passenger Train:
200 km/hr

Train Control System: ETCS Level 2.

Rail Type:

UIC-60-E1.

Fastening System:

Pandrol-Fast clip.

Operational Safety Considerations

NO
permanent
Grade
Crossings
FULLY Fenced RR
Right-of-Way
(for obvious
reasons)

Environmental Challenges

What Are The Environmental Challenges?

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

What the railway carries?

Goals and Objectives of Environmental Protection
How is the Environment protected from interaction with our freight?
Crossing the desert
Construction process
Drainage
Interaction with the local people
Protection of wildlife and domesticated animals
SABKHA
Energy consumption and Environment
Reducing energy consumption
Operational consideration

What does the railway carry

1
2
3
4
5
6

Phosphate Ore
Bauxite Ore
Sulphuric Acid
Caustic Soda
General Freight
Passengers

Goals and Objectives of Environmental Protection

Conserve and protect environment of KSA.
Protect public health from hazard and environmentally damaging
activities.
Protect and develop natural resources, minimize use of
environmental planning integral to industrial, construction and
agricultural activities.
Raise level of awareness regarding environmental issues

How Is The Environment Protected From The

Interaction With Our Freight?
1

All corrosive materials are carried in modern sealed

wagons

all wagons are inspected for leaks before leaving the

loading facility and after the unloading process

all wagons are inspected on a regular basis outside of the

transit inspections

Crossing The Desert

1

The main desert area is the an Naffud between hail and al

Jawf approximately 300km

Issues to be dealt with at this location were

a.
b.
c.

Moving sand dunes

Wind bourn sand
Isolation and inaccessibility of the route in general
inspections

Crossing The Desert

1

The majority of the embankments were constructed from

compacted sand protected by a layer of compacted cohesive
soils

This caused additional environmental issues as borrow pits had

to be found and the protective material hauled to site

The estimated quantity of material to be moved for the

project embankments is 295 million cubic meters

While the estimated quantity of material moved for the project

cuttings is 175 million cubic meters

Resulting a total of required material of 120 million cubic

meters

Construction in Desert
The majority of NSR Alignment will go through remote
locations So, for the construction camps the following had to
be taken into consideration:
Accommodation for more than 1,000 Inhabitants
Supply Chain for Daily Needs of Labors
Supply of Construction Material
Supply of Construction Consumables

Sand Dunes
NSR Alignment passes through a lot of desert and sand dunes
area.
Deserts are generally characterized by the severity of sand
blowing resulting in
Contamination of the Ballast Layer (Impact on System Elasticity).
Designers can only minimize the problem associated with blowing
sand by understanding how sand moves and applying techniques
tested and found to be successful.

Sand Dunes Mitigation

Providing sand trap areas at the railway toe-of-embankment.

Applying gravel blankets as a protection layer against erosion.

Using sand fence.
Frequent maintenance is required.

Construction Process
1

These inaccessible sites required:

a.

The construction of access roads from the local

highways

b.

Additional width of the construction footprint to allow

adjacent site access roads

C.

Provision of general amenities and construction

materials at locations where all provisions had to be
hauled in by road

DRAINAGE
1

The rain fall in the desert has serious impact on

earthworks due to its intensity.

The majority of embankments have culverts installed to

allow the passage of storm water.

Cuttings have been designed to allow the storm water

easy egress away from the railway.

Embankment protection has been provided not only to

support the core structurally but from adverse weather
conditions.

Interaction With The Local People

1

The route has been designed to cause as little interference

with the local public as possible.

where ever possible the route horizontal alignment has

been designed not to divide existing land holdings.

where it has not been possible land owners have been

compensated.

the railway is fenced along its total route to prevent

accidental access and potential accidents

Protection Of Wildlife And Domesticated Animals

1

Total fencing has been the policy of the project

Where the route traverses land where livestock has the

need for access to either side:
a.

Special sized culverts have been use

B.

Camel crossing bridges with high parapets and gentle

approach slopes have been constructed over the
railway

SABKHA
Arabic term that describes a composition of Sand Deposits mixed
with Silt, Clay with the presence of salt.
Always refers to saline, puffy, crust-surfaced flat basins with the
presence of water.
Coastal Sabkha found in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia in
low-lying plains and Inland Sabkha found in northern part.
Special attention is required due to water presence.
Low load carrying capacity (Settlement).

SABKHA Mitigations
Using Geotextiles in the construction of Railway on sabkha subgrade.

Using rock fill for embankment under the sub-grade, ballast and
sub-ballast.
Pre-Loading (Additional temporary load but time consuming).

Soil Replacement.
Mechanical Compaction (e.g. Stone/Sand columns)

Energy Consumption and Environment

Railways provide efficient and safe transportation for freight

and passengers compared with other transportation systems.
Railways reduce emissions and pollutions.

Reducing Energy Consumption

Optimize Route Alignment / Geometry: Very few Curves.
Fuel efficient locomotives.
Modern Rolling Stock (low roll resistance).
Streamlined Efficient Passenger Trains design for aero-dynamics.
Consequent and strict maintenance for rolling stock and
permanent way.

Operational Considerations
Sand Environment Impact on Operation:

Special Sand removal equipment required to keep tracks clear.

Special Pulse Filtration System for Locomotives (EMD SD 70 Acs):
Proven Technology in hot sandy desert conditions

Balises
Due to high temperature in Saudi Arabia specially during summer ,
temperature was measured and found during summer that exceed 80
C and readings from balises will be effected
For that reason Balises were equipped with covers (Shadow) to
reduce temperature and assure their functionality.

Point Machine
Because of sand problems and in order to reduce maintenance,
Point machines were designed with a special cover. This cover is
IP67 / The where no. 6 means no ingress of dust, complete
protection against contact and no. 7 means Ingress of water in
harmful quantity shall not be possible when the enclosure is
immersed in water under defined conditions of pressure and
time (up to 1 m of submersion).

Hot Wheel and Hot Box Detector

Rolling stock detection devices are integrated with ETCS signaling
system to ensure normal temperature in wheels and box. This is
to avoid wheel damages which may lead to derailments.

Photos From The Project

-5-

-7-

Thank you For Your Valuable Time