Chairman of the Saudi Railways Organisation, Khaled Al-Yahya, said that Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard, who is also Chairperson of the Supreme Economic Council, has approved two railway projects linking the east and the west of the Kingdom, which will cost a total of SR10 billion.
Okaz newspaper quoted Khaled Al-Yahya as saying that the financial and legal consultants for the two projects will be announced in the forthcoming two weeks. The projects will take three to five years to complete.
The first project will link the western Red Sea port of Jeddah with the eastern Arabian Gulf port of Dammam with a 1,000km railway-line. The second will link Jeddah with the Holy Cities of
Makkah and Madinah, and will include an extension to the port of Yanbu; the 500km railway-line will facilitate the transportation of pilgrims. The projects will be implemented with private sector support.
Al-Yahya said that the north-south railway, which will begin in the far north and connect to Riyadh Region, would be a total length of 1,400 km. It will be used to transport minerals to Jubail Industrial City.
Al-Yahya said that with a population of over 20 million and one of the 25 largest economies in the world, Saudi Arabia requires a major railway project. The Saudi Railways Organisation plans to purchase 60 new carriages, each of which has 80 seats, at a total cost of SR60 million. The Organization has renovated 60 carriages.
Approximately 800,000 passengers use the railway-line between Dammam and Riyadh per annum over the past three years. “We believe that the introduction of the new carriages will increase capacity by 40%,” Al-Yahya said.
Source: SPA
