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Neom seeks firms for Oxagon light rail

6 July 2023

 

Firms have been invited to submit proposals for a contract to complete a feasibility study and concept design for a light rail transit (LRT) system at Neom’s Oxagon industrial city.

The proposed LRT is expected to be technically challenging as it will involve running across a floating bridge to the floating sections of the city.

Launched in 2021, Oxagon is a 48-square-kilometre octagonal industrial city. About half of the city will be developed on land; the other half will be developed on a series of floating offshore islands.

Work is progressing on other key elements of Oxagon. Contractors have submitted bids for the next phase of the Duba port expansion at Oxagon industrial city.

The bidders are Belgium’s Deme with Greece’s Archirodon; Van Oord of the Netherlands with South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction; a Belgian joint venture of Jan de Nul and Besix; Netherlands-based Boskalis with France’s Soletanche Bachy; South Korea’s Daewoo; and China Harbour Engineering Company.

The tender for the project’s second phase follows the award of a contract to deliver the first phase of the port expansion. A team of Boskalis, Besix and the local Modern Building Leaders (MBL) was awarded that estimated SR3bn ($800m) contract in mid-January.

The scope of the Duba port expansion package includes excavation and dredging, revetments for channel widening, demolition, container terminal quay expansion and earthworks, in addition to the development of a flexible quay, a roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) berth and quay walls to a marine services berth and a coast guard facility.

Jacobs is the main design consultant, with Moffatt & Nichol, IGO and Trent as the main sub-consultants.

Contractors are also bidding for a contract to build tunnels connecting the offshore elements to the mainland.

The design-and-build contract involves digging a 6.5-metre-diameter tunnel using a tunnel boring machine (TBM) under the sea that will link the Neom Connector with the offshore elements of Oxagon port. It will house utilities including water pipelines, fibre optic cables and electricity cables.

There are several rail schemes planned at Neom. In addition to the LRT at Oxagon, there are plans for a high-speed rail and freight rail running the length of The Line. There will also be a railway connecting The Line to Oxagon known as the connector. There are also plans for a funicular railway at Trojena.

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Colin Foreman

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