A project worth over €1.2 billion

Alstom awarded a turnkey metro project by the city of Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Alstom, as a member of the FAST consortium , has received a letter of award by the Riyadh Development Authority (ADA) to provide a complete automatic and driverless metro system to equip three of the six lines to be built by the city. The total value of this project, which is financed by the Government of Saudi Arabia through the Public Investment Fund, amounts to €6 billion of which Alstom's share represents more than €1.2 billion. The project also includes also an option for 10 years of maintenance services. Contract signature should occur within 2 to 3 months.

Riyadh counts almost 6 million inhabitants with an expected population explosion in 2030 set to increase the population to more than 8 million. The city has decided to build six new subway lines in order to reduce traffic congestion, enhance the economic dynamism of the Saudi capital and improve its inhabitants' quality of life. One of the largest turnkey metro projects ever launched in the world, this fully automatic driverless network will be 170 km long and will include 87 stations. The network is scheduled to enter commercial service in 2018.

Alstom will provide the city of Riyadh with its fully integrated metro solution that combines company's state-of-the-art metro sub-systems. It includes the rolling stock (69 Metropolis trains), Urbalis signaling, the energy recovery system, HESOP, as well as the fast track laying technology, Appitrack – a technology that installs tracks three times faster than traditional methods.

Each train is composed of two cars and is 100% motorized. It is about 36 meters long and 2.71m wide. This metro has three levels of comfort: First class, Family and Single. To minimize delays between trains, the Metropolis trains will be controlled by two operational control centers equipped with the Urbalis driverless system.

In order to optimize energy consumption, the traction power system will be equipped with HESOP, Alstom's innovative reversible substation solution, which allows the energy recovered during braking to be re-used by the network.

“We are honored to have been selected by the city of Riyadh to support this major project, which will allow thousands of people to travel every day in clean, comfortable and safe conditions,” said Henri Poupart-Lafarge, President of Alstom Transport. “Alstom remains dedicated to supporting upcoming projects to answer to the increasing demand for urban mobility in the country”, he added.

This project is the first reference for Alstom Transport in the Kingdom, where other metro opportunities are coming up. Alstom has a leading historical position in the market, having built 25% of the world's metro lines.

Metropolis trains and the infrastructure components for Riyadh will be produced at Alstom Transport's sites in Europe.

About AlstomAlstom is a global leader in the world of power generation, power transmission and rail infrastructure and sets the benchmark for innovative and environmentally friendly technologies. Alstom builds the fastest train and the highest capacity automated metro in the world, provides turnkey integrated power plant solutions and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind, and it offers a wide range of solutions for power transmission, with a focus on smart grids. The Group employs 93,000 people in around 100 countries. It had sales of over €20 billion and booked close to €24 billion in orders in 2012/13.