NEOM Tenders Highway and Rail Projects to Boost Freight

NEOM has issued a design-and-build tender for the permanent upgrade of Highway 55, the only north-south road connecting Duba and the Oxagon region. The first phase covers 14 kilometres of road with two lanes in each direction, one bridge and three interchanges, with proposals due by 21 September and construction expected to run over 22 months. The upgrade is designed to support the movement of cargo from Duba Port to destinations across Saudi Arabia and beyond, as freight volumes through the corridor continue to grow.

The tender follows NEOM’s pilot of an intermodal corridor spanning more than 900 kilometres, moving shipments from Egypt through the Port of NEOM to Iraq. NEOM said the pilot “more than halved the transit time between key regional trading hubs linking Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq,” calling it a significant milestone in the Kingdom’s transformation into a regional and global logistics hub.

Alongside the highway works, NEOM has issued an expression of interest for consultants to carry out feasibility studies, route alignment and concept design for a proposed 400-kilometre rail link connecting Oxagon on the Red Sea coast to the Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) North-South Railway at Al Baseeta in Al Jawf Province. The link is intended to give Oxagon direct inland access to Saudi Arabia’s industrial and population centres, offering an alternative to road and maritime transport for cargo movement.

The rail proposal comes as Oxagon targets a sixfold increase in port capacity, from around 250,000 TEU annually to 1.5 million TEU by 2030, with phased terminal openings beginning this year and full operations expected in 2027. Together, the highway and rail initiatives are designed to give the expanded port the landside capacity it will need, linking Oxagon into SAR’s existing freight network, which already moves minerals and industrial cargo across the Kingdom. No construction cost or completion timeline has yet been disclosed for the rail link.