How Saudi Arabia Built a $22 Billion Metro Under the Desert (Riyadh)

🚇 How did Saudi Arabia build a 176 kilometre driverless metro, from scratch, in one of the hottest cities on Earth? In this video, we uncover the engineering behind the 22.5 billion dollar Riyadh Metro, from the three international mega teams that built six lines at once, to the giant tunnel boring machines that dug beneath a living city and the kilometres of elevated viaducts rising along its highways. We explore how engineers designed trains and stations to survive scorching desert heat and blowing sand. We also look at the computers that drive every train, the solar panels and regenerative braking that cut energy use, and the spectacular stations designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and Snøhetta. The project ran years behind schedule, and it has not solved Riyadh's traffic overnight, but it is now recognised as the longest fully driverless metro network in the world.