Specialist composite company Gurit is supplying material for the fast-track construction of two stations on Al Haramain Rail in Saudi Arabia, the first high-speed rail link in the Middle East. The landmark project will feature four ultra-modern train stations. Gurit, headquartered in Switzerland, is supplying material for the fast-track construction of two of the project’s key stations.
The Al Haramain station roofs, made using composite panels, are designed to allow the public areas and platforms to be illuminated by natural light. (photos: Gurit)
Tailor-made solutions
Al Haramain Rail is a € 5.1 billion project financed by the Saudi Government’s Public Investment Fund. The 444km electrically-powered railway will link the cities of Medina, Mecca and Jeddah via the King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh (KAEC), which is intended to be the leading economic city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The 320kph high-speed trains will reduce travel time between Mecca and Medina, the two holy cities of Islam, to just 2h and is expected to ease the pressure on the road links during the pilgrimage period. The tracks and trains will be equipped with the latest technology and the route will feature ultra-modern train stations, which are designed to allow passengers to move about in wide, spacious areas. All the stations on the railway will be based on a common theme but they will each have a distinctive design and building envelope, which will reflect and represent the cities they serve. The stations will house a broad range of facilities. They will have separate arrival and departure zones and ample circulation space. The public areas and the train platforms will be environmentally controlled and will be illuminated with filtered natural daylight. The stations were designed by Buro Happold and Foster + Partners and feature shops, restaurants, mosques, car parks, helipads and VIP lounges.
The Mecca-Jeddah-Medina rail project was launched in 2009 and is scheduled to be completed by 2014. The demanding timetable required special building technologies. The fast-track program led Foster + Partners to adopt a modular approach to constructing the stations and includes a high degree of prefabrication. Advanced composites were selected for their weight-saving characteristics and allowed for elegant solutions that incorporate repetitive detail in the design of the roof panels.
Buro Happold and Foster + Partners had approached Premier Composite Technologies (PCT) in Dubai in order to develop a number of prototypes that would demonstrate the ability to meet all customer requirements. The final design integrates aluminium-framed windows, reflective light shafts, suspension systems for cleaning cradles, roof cappings and external walkways, directly into the panels. This enables a complete turnkey solution to be provided and has resulted in much shorter on-site installation times. PCT had already enjoyed a successful experience with Gurit, in the project for an iconic clock tower in Medina.
“We wanted to tackle this next huge project again with Gurit’s support as engineering, technology and solution partner and materials supplier,” said Hannes Waimer of PCT.
A very large application
Gurit provided structural engineering services and is now supplying the composite materials to PCT for the Medina station roof. This is made up of 32 modules, each 27m by 27m, creating a total surface area of 28,000m² of composite panels but with a total weight of only around 750t. Gurit’s technical team was able to produce detailed material studies quickly.
The Medina station on the Al Jaramain high-speed railway has a roof made up of 28,000m² of lightweight composite panels. (Artist’s impression)
“Supporting PCT on the Haramain railroad station project was a great chance to demonstrate our technical team’s capabilities in developing bespoke composite materials solutions, material samples, and folders of very demanding reports, reviews and on-the-spot answers,” said Richard Crutchlow. “Composite solutions, unlike building materials such as concrete, wood or metal, are engineered for a specific purpose and application. Their physical characteristics are the result of a complex material mix where each and every component brings in another set of properties.” He made clear that finding the best solution for each application involves a lot of knowledge, experience and expertise.
Different approaches
PCT in Dubai is now producing the roof and inner ceiling panels for the Medina station. The lightweight panels are manufactured using moulds and high-end advanced composite materials so that they can be easily lifted into place and installed. Lamination of the panels is now underway at PCT in female moulds, following erection and successful testing of one quarter of a module. The correlation between the full-scale test and the deflections predicted by the Finite Element model developed by Gurit engineers was very good: the difference between simulation and test was less than 2%.
Manufacture requires large quantities of fire retardant Ampreg 21 FR resin, Spabond adhesive and G-Pet FR Lite foam core from Gurit. PCT produces 13m² panels, which, on completion, are shipped to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with all surface finishes in place. On site, the panels are preassembled into larger segments at ground level before they are hoisted up by crane onto the main steel structure. In addition to the rapid building process, this approach also delivers improved health and safety conditions.
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