Saudi Arabia orders 3,400 railcars in $600m deal

Saudi Arabia has placed an order with Greenbrier Companies for 3,400 railcars worth $600 million, the New York-listed company said.

The orders span a range of carriage types, including 780 railcars for state-run Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) and tank cars for transporting phosphoric acid and molten sulphur.

The railcars will support freight transportation capacity and infrastructure development in the kingdom, Greenbrier said.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement with France’s Alstom for the maintenance of the locomotive fleet on the kingdom’s North-South corridor rail freight service.

The five-year contract, valued at €22 million ($25 million), was awarded by SAR, Alstom said in a statement.

The 1,550km line carries nearly 13.5 million tonnes of freight annually. The corridor connects mining sites in mineral-rich regions to processing facilities and export points.

Saudi Arabia approved a doubling of the north train freight line in January 2024, with an estimated investment of SAR4 billion ($1.1 billion).

In March, SAR said it would operate container trains to additional stations nationwide due to the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The company awarded a contract in June to expand its freight railway network in Eastern Province, connecting more than 1,000 global and local facilities in the Dammam industrial zone to ports and other logistics hubs across the country.

It launched five new logistics routes in April. The move came as the Iran war has seen Tehran effectively block Hormuz, roiling global energy markets and disrupting supply channels.

SAR is working to expand logistics connectivity between ports and cargo terminals within the kingdom and neighbouring countries.

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