Russian Railways: Making tracks into the Middle East market

Russian Railways, Russia’s leading rail operator has announced plans to collaborate on over $3 billion worth of projects in the Middle East and Africa.

Yuri Nikolsson, the head of the foreign projects arm of Russian Railway’s Zarubezhstroitekhnologia, was quoted by Prime news agency as saying ‘The talks about our participation in several rather interesting projects in Iran are being held. One of the projects stipulates a contract of about $250 million’.

The company has already indicated an interest in bidding for the following projects:

$2 billion railway construction in Abu Dhabi

$7 billion Kuwait Rapid Transit System Project

$250 million Iranian rail project

$450 million railway project in Nairobi

and more…….

Other regional projects gaining interest from large international operators include: Oman’s national rail project, KSA-Bahrain link, Doha metro, Riyadh metro.

So what will Middle East decision makers be looking for when choosing between top global operators….I have been asking our experts this during my research and here are a few top tips from our ME insiders.

1. Track record: Facts and figures are incredible important to the ME companies, rely on your history of successful projects and years of varied expertise, not hot air and enthusiasm
2. Understanding of the regional conditions: Key challenges like sand and dust build up, customer buy in, sustainability (financial, power etc) all need to be addressed from the start of any bid
3. Workforce: Finding the top experts in a region where companies are fighting daily over talent with large HR budgets is no picnic. However, if you can bring an experienced workforce to combine with local talent you will be much more appealing to the local dm’s.