Riyadh Metro’s construction has taken major strides forward with Alstom starting production of trainsets, and Dayton Superior undertaking to supply standard and custom steel forming systems for Phase One of the $22-billion project.

Alstom, which develops and markets systems, equipment and services for the railway sector, has started the production of the trainsets in its Katowice plant in Poland.

As part of the contract awarded in 2013 by developer Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) to the FAST consortium, which includes Alstom, for the design and construction of lines Four, Five and Six of the Riyadh Metro network, the Katowice plant will manufacture all 69 of the Metropolis trainsets.

The first three trainsets will be delivered to the ADA in 2017. The Katowice plant, which hosts around 1,000 employees, is one of Alstom’s largest train manufacturing sites in the world. Every step of the train’s production, including the final static and dynamic tests, is carried out here.

Each Metropolis is composed of two cars per set and is 36 m long. Each train features three classes: first class, family and single. The train is driverless and is 100 per cent motorised, allowing it to run on the slopes of the line with gradients up to six per cent. The trains will offer passengers a high level of comfort, ergonomic seating, LED (light-emitting diode) lighting, air-conditioning and an advanced passenger information system.

In addition to the Metropolis trainsets, Alstom will provide Urbalis, its CBTC signalling solution, as well as the power supply and Alstom’s energy recovery system HESOP.

Meanwhile, Dayton Superior, a key player in the non-residential concrete construction industry, will under a contract supply standard and custom steel forming systems for the metro project.

These forming systems, from Symons by Dayton Superior, will be used to form the straddle bent columns and caps as well as hammerhead columns and caps for the metro project, said the US-based company.

It said the project’s straddle bents will be fully supported by a custom column-hung support system allowing the self-spanning forming systems to extend as much as 25 m over live traffic.

The entire system transfers all loads to the columns, thus leaving a clear path for traffic and avoiding lengthy construction-related delays, it stated.

“We have very strong engineering, supply chain logistics, operations and commercial teams focused on delivering millions of pounds of Symons forms to the project before the year-end,” said Jim McRickard, the president and CEO of Dayton Superior.