Saudi phosphate railway complete by Q4 2010

Rumaih al-Rumaih, deputy chief executive at the Saudi Railway Co, has said that the firm plans to launch a railway linking the phosphate mine at al-Jalamid and the bauxite mine at Az Zabirah to the processing facilities of Saudi Arabian Mining Co at Ras Azzour by the end of this year, the Saudi press agency has reported. "So far, 800km of the 1,486 km railway has been executed," he was quoted by the agency as saying. The state-owned firm has signed a SR278m contract with Indian government firm Rites to operate the railway until the end of 2013.