Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation announced that it has signed contracts with Talgo SA to develop and supply components for 36 very high speed trains for Saudi Arabia. The contracts are valued at approximately 281 million euro ($367 million US). Talgo is a member of the Al Shoula consortium, led by the Spanish railway operator RENFE and the railway infrastructure company ADIF, recently contracted by the Saudi Railways Organization to build and operate a 450 km high-speed rail line connecting the cities of Mecca and Medina.
Bombardier's supply scope for Talgo includes the Bombardier MITRAC 3000 propulsion and control package, the Bombardier FLEXX Power 350 high speed bogies for the power heads of the 330 km/h trains and 12-year maintenance services for the Bombardier-built systems and components. The majority of Bombardier's manufacturing for the project will take place at its plant in Trapaga, Spain.
The technology is similar to that of the 46 AVE 102 and AVE 112 trains developed and manufactured for RENFE between 2001 and 2010. Bombardier has participated in the development of many of the world's leading high speed rail systems, including four different generations of TGV in France, the ICE trains used in Germany and the Netherlands, Italy's ETR 500 and V300ZEFIRO, Spain's AVE 102 and AVE 112, China's Xinshisu, the Bombardier ZEFIRO family of high speed trains and the Acela in the USA.
