| 14 Feb 2010 |
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Railroad expansion keystone for growth
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MASS transit is an important component of Saudi Arabia's long-term development plans. Occupying an area as large as western Europe, highways and air routes inundate the Kingdom, connecting regions and transporting resources to marketplaces and ports.
With a large portion of global oil reserves, petroleum has powered the economy through exports and provides fuel for automobiles as well as trucks, which provide an important logistical link in freight delivery.
A modern, growing nation, Saudi Arabia is undertaking a massive expansion of its rail network that will increase travel options for its residents while decreasing both domestic demand for fuel and its associated emissions.
Rail travel in Saudi Arabia began in 1908 with the creation of the Hijaz Railway, which ran from Jordan to Madinah. A strategic Ottoman link, the line was a casualty of World War I, and the narrow-gauge railroad was closed in 1915, never to reopen.
Since the creation of the modern Saudi Arabia, it has been the rulers' vision to link the Kingdom's cities together by rail -- a vision that began to be realized in 1948 with the construction of the Dammam-Riyadh Railway.
Completed in 1951, the railway became an important freight link between the Arabian Gulf and the nation's capital as well as providing a passenger service.
The success of this rail line, coupled with the important role it played in the development of Riyadh, prompted the nation's leaders to create the Landbridge Project with an aim to expand the country's rail grid into a network stretching from the Red Sea to the Arabian Gulf and serving the cities in between.
The Landbridge Project will transform the existing rail network in the Kingdom into a world-class freight and passenger service across the country. It will have the capability to move large quantities of cargo over long distances at competitive rates and offer safe and comfortable overland passenger transport.
The project connects the port cities of Jeddah, Dammam and Jubail and will pass through the capital city Riyadh, serving its dry port.
The project involves a 950-km Riyadh-Jeddah line, a 11- km Dammam-Jubail line as well as plans to upgrade and integrate the existing tracks.
In addition to the Landbridge Project, two other major new rail projects are moving closer to completion. These include a 450-km high-speed Haramain railway to link Jeddah with Makkah and Madinah.
"With a commercial speed of 180 km per hour, expected journey times will be approximately half an hour between Makkah and Jeddah and approximately two hours between Jeddah and Madinah," said Saudi Railway OrganizationSaudi Railway Organization
President Abdul Aziz Al-Hokail.
"Upon completion of this project, it will provide an unprecedented means of transport in the Middle East, and will be the safest and fastest service for the transport of pilgrims and other passengers. It will represent a hallmark of development projects in the holy cities, placing the Kingdom at the level of countries that provide a high-speed train service."
The 2,400 km North-South Railway is currently receiving priority due to its importance in industrial development. Sponsored by the Public Investment Fund, this rail line is crucial to planned phosphate and bauxite mining projects in the north of the country, and will link up with processing plants and smelters on the Gulf coast at Ras Al-Zour, which lies in the eastern part of the Kingdom.
The North-South Railway is of vital strategic importance to the national economy, as the processing of phosphates, which exists in commercial quantities, will place the Kingdom second internationally in terms of exporting the commodity, besides accommodating fertilizer industry technology.
It will also increase oil, agricultural and industrial products transportation, as well as goods and passengers. The North-South Railway extends to Riyadh from Haditha, which is on the Saudi border with Jordan, passing through Jouf, Hail, Qassim and Sudair.
The railroad will connect the northern region (Al-Jalamid belt) to the Hail province (Azzubaira) and then to Jubail, allowing the transportation of phosphates and bauxite to Ras Al-Zour en route.
In many countries, railroads are the engine of growth. In Saudi Arabia the Landbridge Project in coming years will act as a catalyst for growth and diversification for the Kingdom's industrial base and improve transportation options for Saudi residents, visitors and pilgrims.
"The Landbridge Project will create a new dimension in land transport across the Saudi Arabian Peninsula, transforming the existing rail network into a world-class freight and passenger rail system," said Transport Minister Jabara Al-Seraisry.
"The interconnected railway tracks will allow large quantities of cargo to be transported across the country at competitive rates, resulting in considerable cost savings in the movement of goods to and from North America, Europe and the Gulf."
By Siraj Wahab
© Arab News 2010
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