Project

management
consultant and designer

Mass rapid
transit

mecca metro
saudi arabia

transport masterplanning
feasibility studies
tender preparation and analysis
detailed design

With Meccas first metro line now in operation, the city is developing a network of four further lines. SYSTRAs experience
gained during the design and construction of the first line is
now being employed on the planning and design of the larger
network.

The Challenge

The city of Mecca, which lies in the Western area of Hejaz in Saudi
Arabia, has a population of around 1.6 million people which is
expected to grow to 2.2 million by the year 2029. In addition,
Meccas religious significance as the birthplace of Prophet Muhammed and the centre of pilgrimage, prayer, and scholarship for
the worldwide Muslim community, means that over 15 million
people visit the city every year, with several million visiting during the Muslim season of Hajj.
Given the number of visitors, it is not surprising that the first metro
line to be built was the Southern Line in the Al Mashaaer Al
Mugaddassah area, to serve the citys pilgrims. The line, which
began operation with limited capacity in 2010, reaching full capacity in 2011, runs only for around one week of the year and
has helped ease heavy congestion during this important event.
As well as being delivered within a very tight timescale, this line
has achieved the highest capacity of any metro line in the world:
72,000 people per hour (pph). This brought its own technical
challenges.
The city now plans to build four further metro lines, which will
run both over- and underground for a total distance of 114 km
with 62 stations for the medium-term network, and about 180
km with 88 stations for the longer-term network. The first phase
will see the construction of the central sections of Lines B and C,
with future phases seeing the addition of part of Line A followed
by Line D and extensions to Lines A, B and C.

In detail

The 18 km Al Mashaaer Al Mugadassah metro links the pilgrimage sites of Mina, Muzdalifa and Arafat near Mecca. The whole
line is elevated, running on precast concrete viaducts with nine
stations and a depot.

www.systra.com

In addition to the requirement to transport such huge numbers of

people, the line had to accommodate the specific travelling patterns of pilgrims, which varied from day-to-day.
We studied all the different movements that took place during
that week; its very different from one hour to the next and varies
hugely from day to day, explains SYSTRA project manager Mohammad K.. We proposed a very specific operation plan to take
care of that. It is something that has never been done before.
The stations, designed by SYSTRAs specialist Stations division,
aim to control the flow of pilgrims onto the 12-car train sets. Unusually, incoming and outgoing flows are separated, with passengers entering the trains through one side and leaving at the other.
The stations distinctive cladding provides shade for the waiting
passengers, as well as forming an aesthetic link to the areas historical buildings. Platforms are very wide to accommodate the
huge numbers of waiting people: 10 m in all, divided 6 m from
the edge by platform screen doors to limit the number of people
boarding each train, in order to prevent injuries through crushing.
The first section of Line B to be constructed will be 10 km long,
running mostly underground with six stations. Running from Jamarat area in the east, along the north side of the Grand Mosque,
King Abdul Aziz Road and the future Haramain high-speed railway
station, terminating along the Makkah-Jeddah Expressway.
A 41 km-long central section of Line C will be constructed at the
same time, running south from Madinah Road to the west then
south sides of the Grand Mosque, through Aziziyah area and Taif
Road to Umm Al-Qura University. This line will have both underground and elevated sections.

mecca metro
saudi arabia

SYSTRA was employed by the Ministry of Municipalities and Rural Affairs (MOMRA) in 2008 to produce preliminary designs for
the Southern Line, including civil works, stations, tracks, other
buildings, electrical, mechanical and drainage. This contract also
involved setting the performance and functional specifications for
equipment and making initial cost estimates.
Finding a solution to meet the unique operational requirements
was the biggest challenge during the design phase, according to
Mohammad K.. He credits the success of the design to the fact
that SYSTRA employs people who have actually operated metro
systems. We have experts who know metro operation from the
inside, because they have done it, says Mohammad K.. Thats
different from having operation theorists. Its part of our DNA.
MOMRA awarded the contract to deliver the Southern Line to
contractor China Railways Construction Company (CRCC), with
CRCC later approaching SYSTRA to produce detailed designs for
the civil works. The timeframe here was extremely tight less
than two years for the line to be operational. We had to deliver
the whole design in 14 months, which was quite amazing, says
Mohammad K..
The speed of construction meant that SYSTRAs designs had to
be shovel-ready from the moment that they were complete; there
was no time in the programme for the contractor to look at
issues of buildability or detail. Here, the time spent out on site
by SYSTRAs people was crucial to getting the design right, says
Mohammad K.: Our key designers dont just have experience
in designing things that work in theory, they are people who
have constructed things, so they know what works and what
doesnt.
Following on from SYSTRAs success in two separate roles on the
Southern Line, AlBalad AlAmeen Company (ABC) which is the Municipality of Meccas investment arm, employed SYSTRA to carry
out a feasibility study of a Mass Rail Transit network for Mecca.
SYSTRAs tasks included preparing studies on operation, technical
feasibility, environmental impact, defining investment and operation costs, and construction phasing.

www.systra.com

The proposed network sees four lines, A, B, C and D, all of which

run for around quarter of their length underground, with the
remainder above ground, elevated on viaducts. Following on
from this contract, the Development Commission of Makkah and
Mashaaer, through Makkah Mass Rail Transit Company employed
SYSTRA to prepare the preliminary design for the first phase, Lines
B and C, and to provide pre-bid consultancy services.
Even at the early design stages, it is vital to consider buildability,
says Mohammad K., in order to give the customer value for money:
When we plan something, even at an early stage, we still make
sure that whatever we plan can be put in place and constructed
later. Its not just about drawing lines on paper, he says. Experience helps us to know exactly the right level of detail. Without
that understanding, projects can run into trouble down the line,
with cost escalation and programme delays.

at a glance
facts and figures

finance

Southern Line Al Mashaaer

Al Mugaddassah
Length: 18 km, all elevated
Number of stations: 9
Capacity: 72,000 pph
Train sets: 280 m, 12 cars,
5 doors per car
Mecca Mass Rapid Transit:
Lines A, B, C and D
Total length: 114 km (181 long-term)
Length underground: about 25%
Total number of stations: 62
(88 long term)
Capacity: from 16,000 to 50,000
pphpd according to lines
Train sets: 100 to 200 m

Public funding: 100%

Mecca Mass Rail Transit
Client: AlBalad AlAmeen Company,
Development Commission
of Makkah and Mashaaer through
Makkah Mass Rail Transit Company
MRT Network Feasibility
and Preliminary design
and bid preparation for Lines B
and C (phase 1): SYSTRA

stakeholders
Southern Line
Client: Development
Commission of Makkah, Madinah
and Al Mashaaer through
the Ministry of Municipalities
and Rural Affairs
Clients consultant: SYSTRA
Contractor: China Railways
Construction Company
Contractors designer (civils):
SYSTRA

finance
Public finding: 100%

key dates
2010: Southern Line Al Mashaaer
Al Mugaddassah begins operation
(reduced capacity)
2011: Southern Line Al Mashaaer Al
Mugaddassah begins operation (full
capacity)
2018: phase 1, Lines B and C
(central sections) expected to open
2021: phase 2, Line A
(central section) expected to open
2024: phase 3, Line D
expected to open
2026/28: phase 4 and 5, extensions
of the 4 lines expected to open

December 2013

SYSTRAs role