The French firm Egis, its subsidiary AuditSafe, and Certifer have been hired by the Saudi mega project NEOM to serve as the Independent Safety Assessors (ISA) for the railway system in THE LINE and the NEOM Industrial City Connector (NICC).
THE LINE is a linear urban development featuring walkable neighbourhoods and hyperconnected communities that is entirely powered by renewable energy. It would measure 200 metres in width, 170 kilometres in length, and 500 metres in height, will eventually house 9 million people and be constructed on a 34 square km-wide footprint.
The NICC will include several individual lines: high-speed rail lines, freight rail lines, Metro/GMT rail lines, depot rail lines and platform loops.
The company stated that the transport system will be placed at the physical and digital infrastructure layer below the grounds of The LINE and will have 5G, satellite, wireless solutions and fibre throughout the communities of the urban development. With the help of High-speed transport links, residents would be able to reach any part of the infrastructure in 20 minutes.
The scope of work for all the agencies involved is to serve as an ISA at the overall system level for THE LINE and NICC following NEOM requirements. This includes all assessment tasks required to obtain the necessary licences, which will allow the systems to operate with passengers and carry revenue-generating freight.
The independent safety assessment would aim to make sure that the safety organisation and its functions are clearly understood and executed along with validation and verification of design requirements, suitable hazard management processes, reduction of risk to the lowest level and mitigations for any residual hazards addressed.
