Page 528 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

Ortega, Alejandro. Almujibah, Hamad. Preston, John.

The comparison was difficult due to a different culture and the different development of the
countries. There are more data and statistics available in Spain than in Saudi Arabia, which
makes the comparison even more complicated.
The know-how gained by construction firms, the infrastructure manager and TOCs in Spain has
helped drive down costs not only in the construction costs but in the maintenance and operating
costs and is key to overcoming the challenge of HSR under extreme climate circumstances. This
experience is also useful to promote Spain’s own national railway sector, helping in this way
the economy afterwards. The case of the Spanish consortium constructing the Saudi Arabia HSR
proves this fact.

Although HSR demand is extremely sensitive to the economic cycles and the transport system
competing with train, TOCs have control over variables influencing it (commercial speed, prices
or frequencies) and therefore must have freedom to adapt their strategy to increase demand
and revenues. Table 2 suggests that when the GDP grows positively, demand for HSR services
in Spain tends to grow even more positively. On the other hand, HSR traffic tends to decrease
even more sharply than does the GDP, when GDP decreases in Spain. The sensitivity referred to
previously becomes greater in the cases of seasonal destinations, such as Malaga and Valencia.

There are inherent difficulties to predict demand and although rapid traffic growths can be
expected it seems difficult to reach 60 million users per annum for the Haramain HSR line in
Saudi Arabia in 12 years. So, taking into account all the culture differences, classical transport
models could not be valid to predict demand, and therefore they must be adapted to this
particular corridor.

Finally, due to the high risks involved in the project, a greater understanding by the parties of
each other’s’ position is crucial to its success: Saudi Arabia will gain expertise in the development
and operation of HSR and will be able to attract international funding in the future, whereas
Spanish companies will benefit by improving its technology and the possibility of exporting its
know-how to other countries. Failure to do so would be bad for both parties, so they should be
open to even further renegotiations or changes of the contract.
6. References

• AEA. (2008). AVE destino Malaga: Efectos sobre la economia y sociedad malaguena.
Asociacion de Economistas de Andalucia (In Spanish).
• Alatawi, A. and Saleh, W. (2014). Travel behaviour in Saudi Arabia and the role of social
factors. Transport, 29 (3), 269-277.

• Albalate, D., Campos, J., and Jiménez, J. L. (2017). Tourism and high speed rail in Spain:
Does the AVE increase local visitors?. Annals of Tourism Research, 65, 71-82.

• Alkharashi, A. and Skitmore, M. (2009). Causes of delays in Saudi Arabian public sector
construction projects. Construction Management and Economics, 27 (1), 3-23.
• Alofi, A., Kashiwagi, J., Kashiwagi, D. and Sullivan, K. (2016). An Analysis of the Current
Procurement System in Saudi Arabia. Paper presented at 52nd ASC Annual International
Conference Proceeding. Associated Schools of Construction.

• Alrashed, I.A., Phillips, M.R., Macrae, I. and Francis, T. (2008). A comparison of tools
and techniques used in construction projects. Available from: https://uksacb.org/
sites/default/files/International%20Journal%20of%20Arts%20%20Sciences %20(IJAS)%20
Conference%20Poster.pdf

• Arabnews, S.A. (2017). High-speed Haramain train tested successfully at 300 kph. Available

526 360.revista de alta velocidad