Thales : awarded the maintenance of 2,400 km line in Saudi Arabia
September 20, 2016 at 07:20 am EDT
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Key Points
One year maintenance contract for the 2,400 km lines between North and South of Saudi Arabia
Maintenance including predictive activities to replace assets before they fail
The freight line is operational since November 2015, and passenger line at the end of 2016
Thales has been awarded a one year renewable maintenance contract for the 2,400 km lines - mineral and passenger - of the North South Railway project crossing Saudi Arabia. This contract demonstrates the trust relationship built with Saudi Railway Company over years of collaboration to deploy the complete transportation systems on the line.
The North-South Railway (NSR) project in Saudi Arabia is the world's largest railway construction and the longest route to adopt the European signaling system (ETCS level 2). The project involves construction of a single 2,400 km track, sidings, yards, depots, stations and administrative facilities to create a line that has its origin in the capital city Riyadh, in the northwest of the country, to Al Haditha, near the border with Jordan.
The freight line, 1,486 km from Al Jalamid (phosphate belt) to Az Zabirah (bauxite belt), is now operational since November 2015. The 1,418 km passenger line from Riyadh to Haditha will be operational end of 2016.
The maintenance contract includes the corrective activities as well as predictive maintenance. This will enable rail operators to fix assets before they fail. Asset performance is constantly improved for a better service and an optimized cost of the infrastructure. This maintenance contract is extendable in the coming years.
Thales is one of the leading providers of signaling solutions and equipment's maintenance worldwide and particularly in Europe which adopts first this new state of the art ETCS technology.
Notes to editors
The industrial line is a 1,486 km rail line from Al Jalamid (phosphate belt) in the north to Az Zabirah (bauxite belt) in the centre of the country and is running eastwards to the processing and manufacturing facilities at the Arabian Gulf in Raz Al Khair, from where the final products are shipped by see. The freight trains are running at a speed of 80km/h when loaded and 100km/h when empty.
The 1,418 km passenger line runs from Riyadh and passes through industrial stations in Sudair, Al Qassim, Hail, Al-Jawf and Al -Basayta to Al Haditha. The passenger route will accommodate trains travelling at 200 km/h.
THALES SA published this content on 20 September 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 20 September 2016 11:20:03 UTC.
Original documenthttps://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/transportation/press-release/thales-awarded-maintenance-2400-km-line-saudi-arabia
Public permalinkhttp://www.publicnow.com/view/7ADFC1B2EDC55B9B2F80980DB2CF154A73EE6A23
Thales is one of the European leaders in manufacturing and marketing of electronic equipment and systems for the defense and security, aerospace, and transportation sectors. Net sales break down by product group as follows:
- defense and security systems (53.4%): C4I defense and security systems (control and monitoring systems, communication, protection, cyber-security, and other systems), defense mission systems, naval systems, electronic war systems, drones, air operation systems (air defense, air surveillance), ground defense systems and missiles;
- aerospace systems (28.4%): avionics equipment (cockpit, cabin multimedia, and simulation equipment), space systems (satellites, payloads, etc.);
- digital identification and security solutions (18.2%).
Besides, the group owns a 35% stake in Naval Group (manufacture of naval equipment for defense and nuclear energy sectors).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: France (29.5%), the United Kingdom (6.6%), Europe (24.8%), the United States and Canada (14%), Asia (9.4%), Near and Middle East (6%), Australia and New Zealand (4.4%) and other (5.3%).