It is the final section of Saudi Arabia’s North-South minerals railway and will connect Riyadh’s King Khalid Airport with the Al-Zabira junction. The contract includes the construction of bridges, camel crossings and other infrastructure to support the railway.

Russian Railways had been the low bidder on the project. Other bidders included Saudi Binladin Group, Saudi Oger, along with two subsidiaries of the state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation: the 15th and 18th China Railway Construction Bureau Corporations (MEED 9:9:08).

Progress on two of the existing construction packages on the North-South minerals railway has been criticised by the body overseeing the project. In particular, the Public Investment Fund referred to the "poor performance" of the consortium featuring Australia’s Barclay Mowlem and Japan’s Mitsui & Company, and added that "strong steps need to be taken" (MEED 16:11:08).