Haulotte supports the Biggest Railway Projects in the Middle East – Industry News

Aprroximately 150 Haulotte high booms supplied by Roots Group Arabia (RGA) are working onsite in the largest subway project in Riyadh – Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabian government is investing more than $22 billion in this huge project in Riyadh. The backbone of the project is a fully automated Metro driverless system with a total length of close to 176km across 6 lines with 85 stations.

In June 2013, a shortlist of three major global consortia was chosen to build the metro. Contracts were awarded in July 2013; construction started in 2014 and is planned to take four years. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on April 4, 2014, and the opening is projected for 2018.

The BACS consortium led by Bechtel and including Almabani General Contractors, Consolidated Contractors Company and Siemens is to design and build lines 1 and 2, totalling 63.3km. The ArRiyadh New Mobility consortium has been awarded a contract to design and build Line 3, which will be the longest line at 40.7km and have 22 stations. The FAST consortium led by Spanish construction group FCC and including Samsung C&T, Alstom, Strukton, Freyssinet Saudi Arabia, Typsa and Setec is to build lines 4, 5 and 6.

The majority of Haulotte models working on building the lines are 20, 26 and 41m articulated booms, and the HT23RTJ telescopic boom. The 41m has a maximum outreach of 19.8m and a high lifting speed – taking less than 40 seconds too full height, which saves time and increases productivity and the new range of telescopic booms are well known for their Rough Terrain capabilities.

A large number of Haulotte HTL 4017 telehandlers are supporting the digging works in the tunnels with the giant drilling machines to increase the productivity and reduce the time to finish the site works. The power and exceptional stability of the telehandlers give improved load ratings, which means high productivity: they go further, higher and with a heavier load. The diesel engine has a high economic output enabling load lifting and placing operations to be performed with high precision whatever the height or distance.

Haulotte’s expertise in railway projects was one of the major reasons its machines were used in Turkey’s long-awaited high-speed railway line between the capital, Ankara, and the financial capital, Istanbul. Various Haulotte scissor lifts and diesel articulated booms have been used. Haulotte also played a big role in the maintenance and finishing works of Dubai Metro.