SFTCH Hail Intermodal Yard, Saudi Arabia

Client: Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR)

Main Contractor: Al Ayuni Investment & Contracting Company (AICC)

Location: Hail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Period: 2019–2020

Scope of Works

• Construction of 10.6km’s of new track infrastructure.

• Installation of 16 No. turnouts, including thermite welding.

• Destressing and thermite welding of destress joints.

• Ballasting, tamping, and final alignment to specification.

• Provision, operation, and maintenance of all on-track plant and perway material handling equipment, including: - Plasser & Theurer 08-32 straight line tamper. - Harsco 6700 Jackson tamper. - Plasser & Theurer 08-16 tamper (SAR owned).

• Ballast regulators, flash butt welding plant, overhead and mobile cranes, locomotives, and ballast hoppers.

Key Challenges

• Integration of new intermodal yard infrastructure into an operational network.

• Management of diverse plant fleet sourced internationally and adapted for Saudi conditions.

• Coordinating resources under AICC’s main contract framework.

• Harsh climatic conditions requiring continuous equipment maintenance and adaptation.

  
  

Solutions & Innovations

• Deployment of WOT’s rail technical supervision and full on-track plant fleet, ensuring high productivity.

• Combined use of multiple tampers and ballast regulators for optimised track geometry and quality.

• Strong collaboration with AICC and SAR ensured milestones were met despite challenging logistics.

Outcome & Benefits

• Successfully delivered within contract programme and budget.

• Demonstrated WOT’s ability to execute specialist yard construction and turnout installation on a large scale.

• Despite the COVID‑19 lockdown, works were authorised as part of essential services for SAR and the project was fast‑tracked to ensure continuity of operations.

• The SFTCH Intermodal Yard was constructed on the back of the successful CTW320 framework, with WOT once again solely responsible for the technical team supervision and the operations of the on‑track plant, while AICC provided all permanent way materials, plant and labour.

• Following the success of CTW320 and nearing completion of SFTCH, AICC was awarded the 3‑year National Maintenance Contract for the 1650km Railway Network General Maintenance Project with the Saudi Railways Organization (SRO).