Alstom-led Consortium signs Letter of Intent for implementation of the Baghdad Metro

Baghdad, Iraq (Urban Transport News): An Alstom-led Consortium, together with its partner Hyundai Engineering & Construction, has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the Iraqi Ministry of Transport to define a framework for all the appropriate steps to accelerate the implementation of the Baghdad Metro (Baghdad Elevated Train- BET).

The Letter of Intent was signed during the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi’s official visit to Paris. The signing ceremony was held in Matignon, the office of the French Prime Minister, in the presence of Jean Castex, the French Prime Minister and Mustafa Al Kadhimi, the Iraqi Prime Minister.

Müslüm Yakisan, Senior Vice President for the Africa, Middle-East and Central Asia region at Alstom, said:

We are extremely delighted to sign the Letter of Intent and develop our cooperation with the Republic of Iraq. We believe that with this important project together with the Iraqi government we will implement our latest innovative technologies to improve the mobility environment in Baghdad and reduce the current traffic congestion.

The Baghdad Metro (Elevated Train) Project is a 20 km elevated mass rapid transit in Baghdad with 14 stations and includes the supply of rolling stock, electromechanical systems, tracks, as well as associated civil works. The light rail system would link Al-Khadumia, AlEtafia, Alsarafia bridge Al-Mustansirya, Wazyria and AlShab over 16km, and AlEtafia AlMuthana airport to Al-Alawi over 4km.

Alstom is already well established in Africa, Middle East & Central Asia region with nearly 5,000 employees, 2,240 suppliers and present in more than 15 countries in the region with offices and manufacturing plants in Algeria, Morocco, South Africa and Kazakhstan.

As well as delivering the Dubai tramway, the first fully integrated tramway system in the Middle East and the world’s first 100% catenary-free line, which was opened in November 2014, the company has been tasked with the maintenance of Dubai Tram for a period of 13 years. The Alstom-led Consortium, ExpoLink, is also responsible for delivering the world’s fastest-built turnkey driverless metro project, Dubai Route 2020 Metro, which was inaugurated in June 2020.

In Saudi Arabia, Alstom, as part of FAST consortium, is supplying a fully integrated metro system for lines 4, 5 and 6, which includes 69 Metropolis-based Riyadh Metro trains, Urbalis signalling system, Hesop energy recovery station and tracks.