SAR tenders Riyadh section of Saudi Landbridge
12 February 2026
Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) has tendered a design-and-build contract for the construction of a new railway line, the Riyadh Rail Link, which will run from north to south Riyadh.
The tender was issued on 29 January, with a bid submission deadline of 29 March.
The scope of work includes constructing a 35-kilometre-long double-track railway line connecting SAR’s North-South Railway to the Eastern Railway network.
The contract also covers the procurement, construction and installation of associated infrastructure such as viaducts, civil works, utility installations, signalling systems and other related works.
The project is expected to form a key component of the Saudi Landbridge railway.
Last month, SAR said it would deliver the Saudi Landbridge project through a “new mechanism” by 2034, after failing to reach an agreement with a Chinese consortium for the construction of the project, as MEED reported.
In an interview with local media, SAR CEO Bashar Bin Khalid Al-Malik said the consortium failed to meet local content requirements and that the project will now be delivered in several phases under a different procurement model.
The project has been under negotiation between Saudi Arabia and China-backed investors keen to develop it through a public-private partnership.
Al-Malik said that the project cost is about SR100bn ($26.6bn).
It comprises more than 1,500 kilometres (km) of new track. The core component is a 900km new railway between Riyadh and Jeddah, which will provide direct freight access to the capital from King Abdullah Port on the Red Sea.
Other key sections include upgrading the existing Riyadh-Dammam line, a bypass around the capital called the Riyadh Link, and a link between King Abdullah Port and Yanbu.
The Saudi Landbridge is one of the kingdom’s most anticipated project programmes. Plans to develop it were first announced in 2004, but put on hold in 2010 before being revived a year later. Key stumbling blocks were rights-of-way issues, route alignment and its high cost.
In April last year, MEED exclusively reported that SAR had issued a tender for the lead design consultancy services contract on the Saudi Landbridge railway network.
MEED understands that the scope covered the concept design and options for the preliminary and issued-for-construction design stages on the network.
MEED reported that the launch of a design tender directly by SAR suggested that Riyadh was looking at other options to develop it alongside the Chinese proposal.
In December 2023, MEED reported that a team of US-based Hill International, Italy’s Italferr and Spain’s Sener had been awarded the contract to provide project management services for the programme.
If it proceeds, the Saudi Landbridge will be one of the largest railway projects ever undertaken in the Middle East and one of the biggest globally. Based on typical design timeframes, tenders for construction are likely to be ready by mid-2026, although the question of how it will be financed will need to be answered before it can proceed to the next step.
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