The contracts will be awarded for two years with two possible extensions of one year each. Consultants with a minimum of 15 years’ experience in railway consultancy are being sought for operations and maintenance, infrastructure, rolling stock, management, railway facilities, a mass transit system, and associated services covering mines and ports.

Bid documents must be collected by November 7, and the closing date for bids is December 12.

This is the first significant tender to be launched by Oman Rail since the cancellation last year of tenders for the provision of network independent safety assessment, the appointment of a legal advisory panel, and supervision of the EPC contract for Segment 1, and in January this year for land acquisition for Segment 2. Oman’s part of the Gulf Railway project was also put on hold last year, following Etihad Rail’s decision earlier in the year to suspend the second phase of its national railway network, the 628km line from the Omani frontier near Al Ain to Ghweifat on the Saudi border.