Talgo to add trains to Mecca-Madinah-Jeddah line

Spain’s Talgo will manufacture 20 high-speed trains for Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) for the rail line connecting Makkah, Madinah, and Jeddah under a EUR 1.3 bn order. Talgo will also handle maintenance for its entire SAR fleet of 55 trains — 35 previously supplied units and the 20 new additions — through 2033, with an option to extend the term until 2038.

A note on capacity: The trains will enter service in 2029 and will raise the capacity of the Makkah-Madinah railway network by 60% to 30 mn seats annually, SAR CEO Bashar Al Malik told Asharq Business.

Camels with credentials

The Kingdom launched the camel passport initiative to better organize and digitize the country’s camel sector, the Environment, Water, and Agriculture Ministry said on X last week. The program will record each camel’s identity, ownership, breed, and health history, linking the information to a verified national database.

Camels are no small market: Saudi Arabia has over 2.2 mn camels and around 80k owners, making us one of the world’s top camel-owning countries.

Egypt’s Noor City is getting a university, courtesy of EEP

Egyptian real estate developer Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) signed an agreement with the Egypt Education Platform (EEP) to establish a private university in its Noor City project in East Cairo, according to a joint press release (pdf) and another disclosure (pdf) from TMG. The total investment for the university is estimated at EGP 8 bn. The project marks EEP’s first venture into higher education.

The details: TMG is providing a 216k sqm land plot for the institution in return for an equity stake in the project and a long-term share of its recurring revenue. Phase one is slated to launch by 2029.

That’s not all: EEP will manage two new Noor City schools and handle operations under a management agreement, while TMG is providing the land and capital for construction.

ADVISORS: Our friends at EFG Hermes acted as the sole financial advisor for the partnership.

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