French company, Alstom, has started the production of trainsets for the upcoming Riyadh Metro in its Katowice plant in Poland. The contract was awarded to FAST consortium, which Alstom is a part of, two years ago by Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA). The contract included the design and construction of lines four, five and six of the network. The Katowice plant will be manufacturing all 69 of the Metropolis trainsets, with over 1000 employees it is one of Alstom’s largest train manufacturing sites in the world.
In the short-term, a full-size mock-up of the Riyadh Metropolis trainset will be unveiled in Riyadh.
The driverless train will be 100% motorized and composed of two cars per set and is 36 metres long. Alstom will provide Urbalis, its CBTC signalling solution, as well as the power supply and Alstom’s energy recovery system HESOP. All sub systems have been optimised together so as to reduce energy consumption.