SAR - North South RailwayEnvironmental Challenges

Gassim Al-GassimDeputy CEO for Projects

Saudi Railway Company (SAR)

• The initial studies were carried out over 15 years ago to developthe North-South Railway.

• Council of Ministers on May 22, 2006 approved the licensing of anew company named Saudi Railway Company (SAR) a whollyowned by the Public Investment Fund of the Ministry of Finance,will manage the Implementation and operation & Maintenance.

• Overall objective of PIF/SAR is to ensure timely implementation ofoperating North-South Railway to carry Ma’aden’s mineral trafficin an economical fashion from mines at Al Jalamid and Az Zabirahto industrial facilities in RasAzZawr. In addition, it is planned tooperate passenger and general freight between Riyadh and AlHaditha on the Jordanian Border .

Introduction

• Design JV Contract awarded to CANARAIL, SYSTRA and Khatib &Alami in March 2004.

• Implementation Supervision Consultant (ISC) Contract – LouisBerger Group Inc., in association with CANARAIL Consultants Inc.,SYSTRA and Khatib & Alami Engineering and Construction –signed on 29th November 2005.

• Contracting Strategy based on International Competitive Biddingcommenced in March 2006.

TotalItem Item

No.

2380 kmTotal alignment length 1

114Concrete-bridges2

2679Concrete-Culverts3

497 million mEarth work4

0,915 million m /kmEarth work in An’Nafud5

More than 4.600.000 unitsSleepers6

More than 286.000 tonesRails7

Quantities In SAR Project

Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia

Yemen

Oman

United Arab EmiratesQatar

Bahrain

IranIraq

Jordan

Egypt

Sudan

Ethiopia Somalia

Eritrea

Syria

Red S

ea

Gulf

Gulf of Aden

Arabian Sea

Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia

Yemen

Oman

United Arab EmiratesQatar

Bahrain

IranIraq

Jordan

Egypt

Sudan

Ethiopia Somalia

Eritrea

Syria

Red S

ea

Gulf

Gulf of Aden

Arabian Sea

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RRAAIILLWWAAYY EEXXPPAANNSSIIOONN PPRROOGGRRAAMM

MakkahJeddah

Yanbu Riyadh

Ha’il Az Zabirah Mine

Al Jalamid Mine

Haradh

Dammam

Ras Az Zawr

Jubail

Al Haditha

Existing Network

North-South Railway

Saudi Landbridge

Western Railway

Al Madinah Al Hufuf

Buraydah

(Medina)

(Mecca)

Al Jawf

Al Basayta

Kuwait

Railway Expansion Program in Saudi Arabia

Al-BasaytaStation

Jubail

Riyadh Station

Al-HadithaStation

Majma’ahStationIndustrial

Station in

Sudair

Al-Qassim

Station

Bauxite Mine/Junction

Hail Station

Al-Jowf Station

Al-Jalamid Mines

Ras Az Zawr

The total length of the project is approx. (2400 Km)The total length of (Mineral)service is (1486 Km)

The total length of (Passenger,ganeral freight) services is (1418 Km)

877 Million Saudi Riyals -An Nafud - 4.2-2 awarded to Al-Khodari Co.

939 Million Saudi Riyals An Nafud – 4.2-1 awarded to Al-Omaier / Al Fahad Co.

Three major contracts, 7.2 Billion Saudi Riyals, awarded on 3rd April 2007 for the Civil and Track Works In (Eastern Region , Al-Qassim , Hail , Al-Jowf , And Northern Boarder Region), as following :

CTW 100 – 576 Km from Az Zabirah Mine to Ras Az-Zawr – Awarded to Saudi Binladen Group..

CTW 200 – 440Km from Az Zabirah Junction to An Nafud – Awarded to the JV of China Railway 18th Bureau and Al- Suwaiket Co.

CTW 300 – 750 Km from An Nafud to Al-Haditha, Hazm AL – Jalamid and Al – Basayta

Awarded to Al-Rashid Barclay Mowlem – Mitsui Consortium

CTW 400 – Recently Awarder with contract value 2.7 Billion Saudi Riyals

460Km from Az Zabirah Junction to KKIA – Awarded to Al Ayuni, Al Omaier & CCECC.

Minerals, Passengers and General Freight Alignment

GCC NSR SRO Landbridge

NSR Integration Into GCC Network

* SAR project include six passenger stations :

• Riyadh (King Khaled Airport)

• Sudair .

• Qassim .

• Hail .

• jowf .

• haditha .

Internal

view

Passenger Stations

Executive Class

External view

Passenger Stations

interior view

External view

Headquarter

* SAR project include

nine yard facilities :

• Riyadh .

• Sudair .

• Qassim .

• Hail .

• jowf .

• Basitah .

• Ras Az Zawar .

• Jubail

• haditha .

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Yard Facilities

• Maximum Axle Loads: 32.4 tones/axle.

• Maximum Gradients:

0.5 % loaded mineral direction.

1.5 % Passenger, general freight and empty mineral direction.

• Train Speeds: Mineral loaded: 80 km/hr

Mineral empty: 100 km/hr

General Freight: 120 km/hr

Passenger Train: 200 km/hr

• Train Control System: ETCS Level 2.

• Rail Type: UIC-60-E1.

• Fastening System: Pandrol-Fast clip.

Design and Operational Considerations

NO permanent

Grade Crossings

FULLY Fenced RR Right-of-Way(for obvious

reasons)

Operational Safety Considerations

Environmental Challenges

1 What the railway carries?

2 Goals and Objectives of Environmental Protection

3 How is the Environment protected from interaction with our freight?

4 Crossing the desert

5 Construction process

6 Drainage

7 Interaction with the local people

8 Protection of wildlife and domesticated animals

9 SABKHA

10 Energy consumption and Environment

11 Reducing energy consumption

12 Operational consideration

What Are The Environmental Challenges?

1 Phosphate Ore

2 Bauxite Ore

3 Sulphuric Acid

4 Caustic Soda

5 General Freight

6 Passengers

What does the railway carry

• Conserve and protect environment of KSA.

• Protect public health from hazard and environmentally damaging activities.

• Protect and develop natural resources, minimize use ofenvironmental planning integral to industrial, construction and agricultural activities.

• Raise level of awareness regarding environmental issues

Goals and Objectives of Environmental Protection

1 All corrosive materials are carried in modern sealed wagons

2 all wagons are inspected for leaks before leaving the loading facility and after the unloading process

3 all wagons are inspected on a regular basis outside of the transit inspections

How Is The Environment Protected From The Interaction With Our Freight?

1 The main desert area is the an Naffud between hail and al Jawf approximately 300km

2 Issues to be dealt with at this location were

a. Moving sand dunesb. Wind bourn sand c. Isolation and inaccessibility of the route in general

inspections

Crossing The Desert

1 The majority of the embankments were constructed from compacted sand protected by a layer of compacted cohesive soils

2 This caused additional environmental issues as borrow pits had to be found and the protective material hauled to site

3 The estimated quantity of material to be moved for the project embankments is 295 million cubic meters

4 While the estimated quantity of material moved for the project cuttings is 175 million cubic meters

5 Resulting a total of required material of 120 million cubic meters

Crossing The Desert

The majority of NSR Alignment will go through remotelocations So, for the construction camps the following had tobe taken into consideration:

• Accommodation for more than 1,000 Inhabitants• Supply Chain for Daily Needs of Labors

• Supply of Construction Material• Supply of Construction Consumables

Construction in Desert

• NSR Alignment passes through a lot of desert and sand dunesarea.

• Deserts are generally characterized by the severity of sand blowing resulting in

• Contamination of the Ballast Layer (Impact on System Elasticity).

• Designers can only minimize the problem associated with blowingsand by understanding how sand moves and applying techniquestested and found to be successful.

Sand Dunes

• Providing sand trap areas at the railway toe-of-embankment.

• Applying gravel blankets as a protection layer against erosion.

• Using sand fence.

• Frequent maintenance is required.

Sand Dunes Mitigation

1 These inaccessible sites required:

a. The construction of access roads from the local highways

b. Additional width of the construction footprint to allow adjacent site access roads

C. Provision of general amenities and construction materials at locations where all provisions had to be hauled in by road

Construction Process

1 The rain fall in the desert has serious impact on earthworks due to its intensity.

2 The majority of embankments have culverts installed to allow the passage of storm water.

3 Cuttings have been designed to allow the storm water easy egress away from the railway.

4 Embankment protection has been provided not only to support the core structurally but from adverse weather conditions.

DRAINAGE

1 The route has been designed to cause as little interference with the local public as possible.

2 where ever possible the route horizontal alignment has been designed not to divide existing land holdings.

3 where it has not been possible land owners have been compensated.

4 the railway is fenced along its total route to prevent accidental access and potential accidents

Interaction With The Local People

1 Total fencing has been the policy of the project

2 Where the route traverses land where livestock has the need for access to either side:

a. Special sized culverts have been use

B. Camel crossing bridges with high parapets and gentle approach slopes have been constructed over the railway

Protection Of Wildlife And Domesticated Animals

• Arabic term that describes a composition of Sand Deposits mixed with Silt, Clay with the presence of salt.

• Always refers to saline, puffy, crust-surfaced flat basins with the presence of water.

• Coastal Sabkha found in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia in low-lying plains and Inland Sabkha found in northern part.

• Special attention is required due to water presence.

• Low load carrying capacity (Settlement).

SABKHA

• Using Geotextiles in the construction of Railway on sabkha sub-grade.

• Using rock fill for embankment under the sub-grade, ballast and sub-ballast.

• Pre-Loading (Additional temporary load but time consuming).

• Soil Replacement.

• Mechanical Compaction (e.g. Stone/Sand columns)

SABKHA Mitigations

• Railways provide efficient and safe transportation for freight and passengers compared with other transportation systems.

• Railways reduce emissions and pollutions.

Energy Consumption and Environment

• Optimize Route Alignment / Geometry: Very few Curves.

• Fuel efficient locomotives.

• Modern Rolling Stock (low roll resistance).

• Streamlined Efficient Passenger Trains design for aero-dynamics.

• Consequent and strict maintenance for rolling stock and permanent way.

Reducing Energy Consumption

• Sand Environment Impact on Operation:

Special Sand removal equipment required to keep tracks clear.

• Special “Pulse Filtration System” for Locomotives (EMD SD 70 Acs): Proven Technology in hot sandy desert conditions

Operational Considerations

• Due to high temperature in Saudi Arabia specially during summer ,temperature was measured and found during summer that exceed 80C and readings from balises will be effected

• For that reason Balises were equipped with covers (Shadow) toreduce temperature and assure their functionality.

Balises

• Because of sand problems and in order to reduce maintenance,Point machines were designed with a special cover. This cover isIP67 / The where no. 6 means no ingress of dust, completeprotection against contact and no. 7 means Ingress of water inharmful quantity shall not be possible when the enclosure isimmersed in water under defined conditions of pressure andtime (up to 1 m of submersion).

Point Machine

• Rolling stock detection devices are integrated with ETCS signalingsystem to ensure normal temperature in wheels and box. This isto avoid wheel damages which may lead to derailments.

Hot Wheel and Hot Box Detector

Photos From The Project

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