RIYADH -- More than 32 international and local firms have bid to become the financial consultants for Saudi Arabia's 1,600-km (1,000-mile) railway project, a source at the kingdom's Railways Organization said Monday.

The offers came from the United States, Europe, Japan and South Africa in addition to several local banks, for the projects expected to cost several billion dollars, the source told AFP.

The financial consultants will formulate the projects and then invite offers from international and local private firms to construct the railways on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.

The Railways Organization on Monday invited bids from specialized local and international firms to provide legal consultation for the project. The last date for submitting offers is December 17.

Saudi government studies have shown the project is economically feasible and it will be carried out entirely by the private sector.

The main project envisages adding a 950-kilometer (594-mile) rail link between Riyadh and the kingdom's main commercial port in Jeddah on the Red Sea.

This will complete the rail link between the country's east and west coasts through the existing 450-kilometer (280-mile) rail link between Riyadh and Dammam on the oil-rich eastern coast.

Initial estimates put the cost of this project alone at more than two billion dollars. It is expected to boost cargo volume by 19.5 percent to 30 million tons and transport 23 million passengers a year.

Another 570-kilometer (356-mile) rail link is planned between Jeddah and the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The line will also extend north to Yanbu, the kingdom's main industrial city on the Red Sea.

A third 115-kilometer (72-mile) railway is planned to link Dammam with the industrial city of Jubail on the gulf coast.

Actual construction is expected to commence within two years and the railways be ready three years later.

A fourth 600-km (375-mile) rail link between the phosphate mines in the north and Riyadh has been given to state-owned Saudi Arabian Mining Co. and Saudi Oger.

Japan in 2000 turned down a Saudi request to finance the project, arguing it was not economically viable.

The decision cost Tokyo an oil-drilling concession which Riyadh refused to renew in February 2000.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the Arabian peninsula with a railway. It was originally built under the Ottomans to transport Muslim pilgrims to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca.