people are located in Madrid, Paris, London,
New Delhi and Dubai to provide support for
the project. In total, FAST will employ over
15,000 people from more than 15 countries.
FCC expects FAST to commence construc-
tion of the three subway lines by mid-2014,
and to complete the project within five years,
as stipulated in the agreement.
The contract awarded to the FCC-led con-
sortium, includes the design and cons-
truction of lines 4 (yellow), 5 (green) and 6
(purple), which will have 25 stations. Cons-
truction will include 65 kilometres of track:
24 kilometres of viaducts, 28 kilometres of
underground track, and 13 kilometres of
overground track. A total of 69 driverless
trains will also be built to operate on these
three lines.
The largest subway project in the
world
The six lines comprising the Riyadh metro
project will span more than 176 kilometres,
making it the largest subway under develo-
pment in the world at present. Construction
will require 600,000 tonnes of steel (80 times
the amount used to build the Eiffel Tower),
and 4.3 million cubic metres of concrete (11
times the amount used for Burj Khalifa, the
world’s tallest skyscraper.
This new metro will transform Riyadh, redu-
cing traffic congestion, strengthening and
driving the Saudi economy and improving
living standards for citizens.
Riyadh currently has a population of 5.7 mi-
llion, which is expected to reach 8.3 million
by 2030, according to official calculations.
From left to right: Rafael Catalá, the secretary of State for Infrastructures, Transport, and Housing, and Esther Alcocer Koplowitz, the chairman of FCC.
Ana Pastor, minister of infrastructures and Juan Bejar, vice-chairman and CEO of FCC.
t h e p l a c e
