Renfe has secured a five-year extension of its operating and maintenance contract for the Haramain high-speed line, Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente announced after meeting with the Saudi Transport Minister in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
The meeting served to publicize an addendum to the Haramain project contract, which provides for the extension of Renfe’s operation on the Mecca-Medina high-speed line from the sale of 20 new trains by Talgo.
The extension of the contract with Renfe will run from 2033 to 2038 and has a total value of 1.5 billion EUR, with an average of 300 million EUR per year.
The agreements represent “a fundamental operation for Spanish companies, as they guarantee Renfe’s continuity in the project and represent a boost for Talgo’s commercial activity. This demonstrates that Spanish companies in the railway sector are world leaders, both in infrastructure construction and in the quality of service operation,” said Óscar Puente.
Haramain connects Mecca and Medina
The Haramain project involves the construction and subsequent operation of the high-speed line connecting the cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Renfe currently has over 1,000 employees in the country, a third of whom are women, with the percentage reaching almost half among management staff. The Spanish public company has been a pioneer in giving women access to high-speed train driving in the Middle East.
In 2025, Renfe carried a record number of nearly 10 million passengers on the Haramain high-speed line, surpassing the 9.1 million recorded in 2024 and demonstrating an upward trend in traffic on the Mecca–Medina route.
The Mecca–Medina high-speed line is 453 km long and equipped with ERTMS Level 2. It has five stations, including one at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.
Under the contract with Talgo, the manufacturer will deliver 20 trains, each with 13 cars with a capacity for over 400 passengers. It should be noted that a consortium formed by Talgo and Alstom has already delivered 35 high-speed trains to Saudi Arabia, which run at a maximum commercial speed of 300 km/h. The existing trains have 13 cars with a total capacity of 417 seats.
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