23 Consortiums Pre-Qualify for Oman Rail Network

23 consortiums from around the world have passed through the pre-qualification process to build the Oman Railway Network. 18 have pre-qualified for civil engineering work while five have pre-qualified for the technical work.

The consortia were pre-qualified according to the financial and technical aspects of their bids, combined with their experience in such work, last week.

The five technical consortia are: Alstom Transporte SA (leader) and Alstom Belgium SA. Siemens AG (leader) and Siemens Oman; Thales Deutschland Transportation Systems GmbH (leader) and Thales Oman and Ansaldo STS Spa; Bombardier Transportation Italy Spa (leader) and Sirti Spa.

The first phase to be built will be the 170km long Sohar to Buraimi route and this will be built commencing in the first quarter of 2015, when the design and build tender is awarded. It will connect the Sultanate’s port cities with the wider GCC Railway Network by 2018 which will connect the six member states by rail. Ultimately the project will consist of 700 km of track throughout the country with plans to construct over 2000 km in the future.