Designs of new bridges on the Al-Haramain train route have been finalized, sources working on the project revealed here Saturday. The new bridges will be constructed on the median island of the Haramain Road. The company carrying out the project is expected to expedite executing the civil engineering work for the train including demolishing the bridges extending from King Abdullah Bridge, Tahliya Street, the air base and the pilgrims' city early next year. The Al-Rajhi Consortium has started laying the foundation for the bridges on which the train will be passing in the Rabegh Area in the east at Kilo 280. Ninety-three bridges will be constructed with a total length of 10,000 meters in addition to four tunnels, 13 camel passages and 141 flood-water drainage channels. About 31 million cubic meters of rocks will be cut and 1.1 million cubic meters of concrete and 200,000 tons of iron will be used to construct the bridges. Over 40 percent of the civil engineering work has been completed, sources said. adding that the recent floods in Jeddah caused some damage to the homes of the company's workers. However, they added that the train station at the old airport area in Jeddah did not suffer any damage. The Al-Rajhi Consortium won the contract for the first part of the Al-Haramain Train Project which will be completed at a cost of $1.8 billion. The Al-Haramain Train Project has been divided into two parts – the first part was awarded to the winning consortium. This part is related to the civil engineering work for the train route linking Makkah and Madina via Jeddah and King Abdul Aziz International Airport while the second part of the first phase is related to building train stations. During the coming few days, the second part of the project related to extending the railway lines, building electricity stations, assembling coaches, and establishing operation and maintenance systems will be tendered. The project has to be completed by the end of 2012, sources said.
