S.R.O. entrusted Technital with the projects for the maintenance facility connected with the realization of the direct railway line between Riyadh and Dammam.

The first task was given in 1980 and concerned the Workshop for routine maintenance and small repairs on passenger cars to be located in Dammam - a complex covering approximately 500 square meters, complete with all of the necessary equipment and facilities for the various operations.

The second task arrived in 1981 and concerned the Workshop for the routine maintenance of railway materials - a complex covering approximately 2,000 square meters to be located in Riyadh in the vicinity of the pre-existing railway station which was also fully equipped with the necessary installations.

In 1981, S.R.O. also entrusted Technital with the task  relative to what is doubtlessly the most important installation, the Workshop for major repairs in Dammam, where maintenance is done on the diesel-electric locomotives of the entire Saudi railway fleet.  The works were contracted in 1982 and completed in 1985.

The workshop is composed of two main bodies which cover respective land surfaces of 12,400 and 8,100 square meters and are built in modular 24 m. x 12 m. units. The total workshop facilities include 12 operative departments and a warehouse with the capacity to accommodate 20 locomotives at one time.

The foreseen work cycle includes dismantling of the body from the bogie, separation of the various components and transfer to the specific type of operations and, upon completion, convergence to remantling.  All of the operations for restoration to the original characteristics of the various components can be done in the workshop.

23 wagon traversers, 2 pillar cranes, 2 travelling cranes, 1 frame crane, and one monorail crane are inlcluded in the project.  The equipment is completed by a 150 t. traverser and a vast palleting system through fork trucks and adequate capacity trailers.

Furthermore, the project included all of the operative machinery for which the techno-operative specifics were defined by making recourse to all of the most modern solutions offered by the international market and washing and automatic functioning systems which eliminate the direct presence of operative personnel in the work area.  The washing systems include washing spaces which are specialized in wagon bodies, trucks, and other materials dislocated in the various departments. Cabins were also forseen for painting, and drying and passivation treatments.  The particularly noisy procedures were dislocated in the more acousticlly isolated areas of the other departments. 

The workshop is also equipped with all of the necessary equipment for the various procedures, like electricity in various tensions, water, compressed air, oxygen, acetylene and steam for which the distribution networks were created with leads which are totally accessible to inspection.  Two complete sewage systems were also foreseen in the workshop, one for raw sewage and the other for industrial waters deriving from the various operations.

The poject foresaw a sprinkler system with relative alarm devices, a system for measuring temperature with a central unit and peripheral units dislocated in the various departments, a telephone system, a complete forced ventilation system, and a removal system for dust and smoke in the departments where the most pollutant operations are carried out.

The following installations were planned separate from the workshop:  a lubricating device, a gasoline supply station, a compensation tank for water with a piezometric distribution tower and pumping station; a tub for oil separation from waters discharged from the workshop, two electric substations for feeding; a steam production plant with distribution to the various washing sites inside the workshop; an oxygen and acetylene distribution plant; a plant for the production of compressed air; a fleet of vehicles complete with frame crane for the movement of  wheel sets.

Lastly, the project included the arrangement of the entire external area destined to the complex of installations with access and service roads, a track system to facilitate access to the various areas, a draining area for rain water, a sewage system, a water supply system, electricity and lighting, a telephone system and fencing to limit and protect the area pertaining to the entire installation.

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