Riyadh metro to have unified design and color-coded lines

The city of Riyadh has decided on a unified design for over 200 metro cars, and different colors for various routes, for its future turnkey six-line metro project, which is scheduled for completion in 2018.
Experts decided on the new design after considering submissions from the three consortiums working on the metro project, the Arriyadh Development Authority tweeted Monday.
The unified design will make the metro project more distinguished and convenient for passengers, especially with each metro line having a different car color code, the commission said.
The project, dubbed the King Abdulaziz Project for Riyadh Public Transportation, has assigned a color code for each line through the city. The blue metro serves the Olaya-Batha line, green the King Abdullah Round Road line, red the Madinah-Prince Saad bin Abdulrahman Al-Awal line, orange the King Khaled Airport Road line, yellow for the underground tunnel line along King Abdulaziz Street between King Abdulaziz Historical Center and the Riyadh Airbase, and the purple metro for the Abdulrahman bin Auf and Al-Sheikh Hassan Bin Hussain line.
The metro cars have special seating for singles, families, and first class. Passengers will be able to connect to the metro Wi-Fi.
The metro project is expected to start with 202 cars, and may be increased to 338 to meet possible future demand. It will have a daily capacity of 1.16 million passengers on its inauguration, which may be increased to 3.6 million passengers in the future.
Riyadh has almost 6 million inhabitants with an expected increase to more than 8 million in 2030. The plan is to reduce traffic congestion, enhance the economic dynamism of the Saudi capital and improve quality of life. One of the world’s largest turnkey metro projects, this fully automatic driverless network will be 170 km long and include 87 stations.
Arab News recently visited the Alstom metro car manufacturing facility in France, where the Riyadh metro will be built. Alstom will provide the city with a fully integrated metro solution that combines the company’s state-of-the-art metro sub-systems.
The total value of the project, which is financed by the Saudi government through the Public Investment Fund, amounts to SR30 billion of which Alstom’s share represents more than SR6.18 billion. The rest of the project cost will go to the FAST consortium, including FCC (leader), Freyssinet Saudi Arabia, Samsung, Strukton, Setec, and Typsa.