Riyadh Metro – Building the World’s Largest Single-Phase Metro

The first lines of Riyadh’s six-line, 176-km metro network are due to commence operation in the final quarter of 2021. As the world’s largest single-phase metro project nears its conclusion, IRJ Editor-in-Chief Kevin Smith speaks with Carter Rohan, project director for the Riyadh Metro Transit Consultants (RMTC) project management consultancy (PMC), and Lindsay Vamplew, project director for the Riyadh Advanced Metro Project Execution and Delivery (RAMPED) PMC, which have overseen project delivery. Rohan and Vamplew address the challenges of delivering such a vast scale of work in a country with no past experience in metro construction, and in Saudi Arabia’s tough environmental conditions. (Introductory music: “Tired Traveler on the Way to Home” by Andrew Codeman – CC BY 3.0)