Talgo, a leading company in the design, manufacture, and maintenance of high-speed lightweight rail vehicles, has secured an order worth €1.3 billion ($1.53 billion) for the manufacture and maintenance of 20 new high-speed trains for Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR). This comes after Talgo's successful delivery of 35 trains to SAR in 2018.

The contract has been placed by the kingdom’s Ministries of Transportation-Logistics and Finance, and through the Spanish consortium overseeing Phase Two of the “Haramain High Speed Railway” project.

The Haramain Railway line, a 450-km-long network, is built and operated to virtually the same standards as the Spanish high-speed rail network, with a maximum commercial speed of 300 km/h and ERTMS level 2 signalling, said Saudi officials.

As part of the contract to maintain the trains, Talgo also operates two maintenance facilities in Saudi Arabia, employing more than 270 people.

These trains will be deployed on the rail line connecting the cities of Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah. 

Each train will comprise two power cars (locomotives) and 13 coaches with a capacity of 417 seats distributed in two classes, in addition to dedicated spaces for catering and passengers with reduced mobility.