Saudi Arabia's Neom has extended the tender closing date for Type B precast tunnel works for the marina section of The Spine, which is the infrastructure corridor running alongside The Line.

The closing date is now 14 July. There is an expectation that the deadline could be extended further.

The Spine includes a high-speed rail that links to the Connector South, which runs to the Oxagon industrial zone and port at Duba on the Red Sea coast. 

Earlier in June, MEED reported that Neom had extended the tender closing date for several packages of The Spine's railway line. 

It set 16 June as the bid submission deadline for Lot 9 and 3 July for Lot 10. The main contract tender was first issued on 6 August last year.

The two lots are part of the cut-and-cover rail tunnel for The Spine. Their scope includes installing structural concrete for The Spine rail system tunnels and stations.

US-based Aecom is the design consultant and Bechtel is the project management consultant for The Spine.

Construction work on the railway network at Neom has already started. 

In early May 2023, a joint venture of Italy-based Webuild and Riyadh-headquartered Shibh Al-Jazira Contracting (Sajco) secured a $1.5bn contract to build the Connector South line.

The contract involves the construction of a 75-kilometre railway line, including earthworks, 14 viaducts, seven roads, nine rail underpasses, 152 pipe and box culverts, a freight line, infrastructure maintenance depots and associated facilities.

The infrastructure corridor will run south from The Line to Neom City Station.