Three consortiums have been shortlisted by the Arriyadh Development Authority to deliver Riyadh’s new light-rail metro system.

Spanish firm FCC Construccion heads up the consortium known as FAST, while US firm Bechtel leads the BACS consortium. Italian firm Ansaldo STS is the leader of the Arriyadh New Mobility group.

Sources close to the project say the FAST consortium is the frontrunner for lines 4, 5 and 6. The BACS consortium is the frontrunner for lines 1 and 2, while Arriyadh New Mobility is the frontrunner for line 3.

Arriyadh Development Authority is expected to make an official announcement of which consortium has been selected for each line soon.

A formal award is expected before the start of Ramadan in mid-July. The final decision will be taken by the supreme council, chaired by the Riyadh governor Prince Khalid bin Bandar.

The planned metro network features six lines (Blue, Green, Red, Orange, Yellow and Purple). It will have 85 air-conditioned stations.

Bids for the construction of the metro system were submitted in February. The client had divided the six-line metro project into five major design-and-build packages, with lines 1 and 2 as one package, and the other lines each as single packages. Each package will include the supply of rolling stock.

Last month, the Riyadh authorities chose architects from Germany, Norway and the UK to design three of the stations for Riyadh’s new metro.

German firm Gerber Architekten is to design Olaya metro station, while Norway’s Snohetta will design the downtown metro station at Qasr al-Hokm. The UK’s Zaha Hadid will be working on the King Abdullah Financial District metro station. These stations will be the main intersections of the metro network.

The metro will be supported by a new bus network that will feature feeder buses transporting passengers to metro stations. Riyadh authorities are currently assessing bids from potential network operators.

The shortlisted consortiums are:

FAST

• FCC Construccion SA (Spain) – the consortium leader

• Alstom Transport SA (France)

• Samsung C&T Corporation (South Korea)

• Freyssinet (local)

• Strukton Civiel Projecten BV (The Netherlands)

• SETEC (France)

• Tecnica y Proyectos (Spain)

BACS

• Bechtel (US) – the consortium leader

• Siemens (Germany)

• Almabani General Contractors (Saudi Arabia)

• Consolidated Contractors Company (Saudi Arabia)

• Aecom (US)

Arriyadh New Mobility

• Ansaldo STS (Italy) – the consortium leader

• Ansaldobreda (Italy)

• Larsen & Toubro (India)

• Impregilo (Italy)

• Nesma & Partners Contracting (Saudi Arabia).

• Hyder Consulting (UK).

• Worley Parsons (US)

• IDOM (Spain)