Medina Station on Haramain High Speed Line Gets High Tech Composite Roof

The railway station on the Haramain High-Speed railway at Medina, designed by the prestigious British architectural company Foster and Partners, is to have a futuristic roof designed from lightweight structural composite materials.

Premier Composite Technologies has been awarded the contract for detailed design and fabrication of the roof by main contractor Yapi Markazi. The fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) panels will be moulded and CNC machine tooled using a fire resistant sandwich of glass fibre and epoxy resin, combined with a lightweight foam core. The individual panels will be combined into square modules which will fit together to complete the roof design.

The modular design detail of the roof made advanced composite materials ideal for the job. Composite materials offer significant advantages, including rapid installation and lightweight strength. The composite material also offers inherent insulation benefits. Altogether, the station roof has a surface area of around 300,000 square feet and will require 2,048 of the panels.

The roof panels will be installed by Premier Composite Technologies once the steel supporting structure is complete.

The Haramain High-Speed railway from Mecca to Medina is planned to provide comfortable, efficient transport at up to 320 km/hr, and will serve up to three million passengers per year.