In May FCC’s joint venture with the private Algerian group ETRHB HADDAD won the contract to design and build a 185-kilometre-long railway line through southwest Algeria connecting the cities of Relizane, Tiaret and Tissemsilt. The new line has a budget of 935.5 million euro and a completion period of 54 months.

The project, run by the Ministry of Transport through ANESRIF (Agence Nationale des Etudes et Suivi de Réalisation des Investissements Ferroviaires), forms part of the economic development programme for the 2009-2014 five-year period backed by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. A hefty percentage of the project’s 114,000-million-euro budget is earmarked for building infrastructure.

The new line will have a single set of tracks rated to bear a maximum speed of 160 kilometres/hour and will travel over two different sections, the extremely rough 121.1-kilometre-long Relizane-Tiaret section (where five tunnels will be built using the new Austrian method) and the 64.2-kilometre-long Tiaret-Tissemsilt section.

The project also includes the construction of seven passenger stations, five crossings, improvements to existing stations in Relizane and Tissemsilt and seven maintenance buildings along the section’s length. Plans call for the line to be electrified in future.

More info