The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud inaugurated the Riyadh Metro on Wednesday, marking a major milestone in the Kingdom’s urban development efforts.

“The Riyadh Public Transport Project, encompassing metro and bus networks, reflects the visionary leadership of King Salman, whose commitment ensured the project’s success,” said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Prime Minister, and Chairman of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC).

Riyadh Metro is one of the largest public transport projects globally undertaken in a single phase.

The network, spanning 176 kilometres across six lines and three levels with 85 stations, is a core component of Riyadh’s public transport system.The project was launched after a royal decree approved its implementation, awarding contracts to three global consortia - BACS, FAST, and ANM - comprising of 19 major global companies from 13 countries.

Ibrahim bin Mohammed Al Sultan, Minister of State, Member of the Council of Ministers, and CEO of RCRC said the project’s six lines will operate in phases, beginning with the first three lines Blue Line (Line 1), Yellow Line (Line 4) and Purple Line (Line 6). This will be followed by the launch on 15 December 2024 of two additional lines, Red Line (Line 2) and Green Line (Line 5) and ending with launching of the Orange Line (Line 3) on 5 January 2025.

The Metro is 39.7 percent underground, 8.9 percent surface level and 49.6 percent elevated.

The six  metro lines are as follows:

1. Blue Line (Line 1): Olaya - Batha Street, with a total length of 38 km.

2. Red Line (Line 2): King Khalid International Airport Road, with a total length of 25.1 km.

3. Orange Line (Line 3): Medina Road – Prince Saad bin Abdulrahman Al-Awwal, with a total length of 41.1 km.

4. Yellow Line (Line 4): KAFD - King Khalid International Airport, with a total length of 29.7 km.

5. Green Line (Line 5): King Abdulaziz Road, with a total length of 13.3 km.

6. Purple Line (Line 6): Abdulrahman bin Auf Street – Sheikh Hassan bin Hussein bin Ali, with a total length of 28.8 km.

Riyadh Metro features a maximum capacity of 3.6 million passengers daily and complements the recently launched bus network as well as the public transport network in the city.

The project comprises 183 trains with a total of 448 cars that were manufactured by three of the largest train manufacturers in the world: Siemens (Germany), Bombardier (Canada), and Alstom (France) with a unified design by Avant Premiere (France). The train sets comprise two or four cars divided into three classes (First, Families, Singles) via flexible separators.

(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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