CAF widens activities in Saudi Arabia with new Saudi Railways contract

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Spain’s CAF Group has inked a new deal with Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR). While the bulk of the contract involves maintenance work on trains, it also includes setting up a joint engineering department and a centre for digitalisation. The agreement is valued at almost 200 million dollar (182 million euros).

CAF will be carrying out maintenance work on its train sets running between the Riyadh and the border town of Qurayyat, also called the North-South line. The company will also take care of units active on the 1,700-kilometre East-West line between Riyadh and Damman.

Furthermore, CAF will be setting up a so-called Engineering Excellence Centre with the goal of training SAR staff, enabling them to carry out maintenance work on CAF trains themselves. For this reason, the SAR workshops will be upgraded so that such jobs as bogie and axle maintenance can be performed, as well as the changing of rolling gear. CAF and SAR will also be reaching out to local universities and technical centres in an effort to bolster competence and expertise in the field of railways and train maintenance.

Lastly, CAF and SAR will be establishing a Digital Hub Centre for the local development of digital systems and tools for its Saudi fleet of trains. CAF will be using its digital train platform LeadMind as a springboard for the project. This platform facilitates ongoing remote diagnosis, which in turn enables predictive maintenance and operation optimisations. This should result in improved performance and reliability, with the added benefit of life cycle cost savings.

Further reading:

Author: Nick Augusteijn

Former Chief Editor of RailTech.com

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CAF widens activities in Saudi Arabia with new Saudi Railways contract | RailTech.com

CAF widens activities in Saudi Arabia with new Saudi Railways contract

Wikimedia Commons

Spain’s CAF Group has inked a new deal with Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR). While the bulk of the contract involves maintenance work on trains, it also includes setting up a joint engineering department and a centre for digitalisation. The agreement is valued at almost 200 million dollar (182 million euros).

CAF will be carrying out maintenance work on its train sets running between the Riyadh and the border town of Qurayyat, also called the North-South line. The company will also take care of units active on the 1,700-kilometre East-West line between Riyadh and Damman.

Furthermore, CAF will be setting up a so-called Engineering Excellence Centre with the goal of training SAR staff, enabling them to carry out maintenance work on CAF trains themselves. For this reason, the SAR workshops will be upgraded so that such jobs as bogie and axle maintenance can be performed, as well as the changing of rolling gear. CAF and SAR will also be reaching out to local universities and technical centres in an effort to bolster competence and expertise in the field of railways and train maintenance.

Lastly, CAF and SAR will be establishing a Digital Hub Centre for the local development of digital systems and tools for its Saudi fleet of trains. CAF will be using its digital train platform LeadMind as a springboard for the project. This platform facilitates ongoing remote diagnosis, which in turn enables predictive maintenance and operation optimisations. This should result in improved performance and reliability, with the added benefit of life cycle cost savings.

Further reading:

Author: Nick Augusteijn

Former Chief Editor of RailTech.com

Add your comment

characters remaining.

Log in through one of the following social media partners to comment.