Riyadh Metro Project

Railways connect people with places.

Through the photos in the following pages, Gitte Spinder has managed to capture the real essence of what it takes to construct one of the largest and most ambitious metro projects the world has ever known, bringing to life the oft overlooked human aspect of construction; the sweat, toil, frustration, joy and ultimately the success of bringing so many human elements together to create art in architectural form.

About the project

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had a vision: to invite the planet’s best railway engineers to create for him a metro system for the city of Riyadh that would be the envy of the world; a system that world alleviate the traffic problem of Saudi Arabia’s capital, that would encourage traders to reinvest in the Saudi economy and, most importantly, that would be a gift to the citizens of Riyadh to help them connect with the rest of the city.

Western companies flocked to the desert to investigate the opportunities, and in 2013 the Riyadh Metro project was officially started under the watchful eye of the Arriyadh Development Authority, more recently renamed as the Royal Commission for Riyadh City. With more than 14 companies engaged in the project, divided into 3 design and build consortia, the pressure to complete 6 metro
lines, 87 stations, 5 depots, several park and ride facilities and numerous administrative and command buildings, all within 5 years, was immense.

FAST Consortium was created to design and build 3 of the 6 metro lines: the yellow line that runs from King Khalid International
Airport to the King Abdullah Financial District; the purple line that intersects with the yellow line at Thumamah Road runs south to the An Nasim District; and the green line that serves the ministerial offices from under King Abdulaziz Road while linking
the red line at King Abdullah Road with the blue line at the King Abdullah Historical Centre.

Through the partnership of companies FCC from Spain, Samsung from South Korea, Alstom from France, Strukton from the Netherlands and Freyssinet from within Saudi Arabia, supported by a number of global design companies and 44 nations providing a workforce of over 9000 people at its height, FAST set about its work.