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Chugging to glory: Mashair Railway project in service of pilgrims

MAKKAH: The Mashair Railway that links the holy sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah to Makkah is one of the latest high-tech projects to be implemented by Saudi Arabia to serve the guests of God.

About 30 to 50 percent of the Mashair Railway (also known as the Makkah Metro) is to be used this Haj season, said Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Khodairy, undersecretary at the Makkah governorate.

Costing SR6.5 billion, the new railway has the capacity to transport 72,000 pilgrims an hour. Nine stations have been constructed in Arafat, Mina and Muzdalifah, each with three stations.

This is the second largest project to be implemented by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs after the SR4.5 billion high-tech Jamrat Bridge project in Mina.

Habib Zain Al-Abidine, deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs, said the railway will have 10 trains in the first phase, each 300 meters long. "Each train will carry 3,000 passengers."

The railway will reduce the time it takes for pilgrims to move from Arafat to Muzdalifah to five minutes on the 9th of Dul Hijjah. It will also take pilgrims five minutes to move from Muzdalifah to Mina on the 10th.

Zain Al-Abidine said the railway would operate throughout the year. The second phase of the project will link the Mashair Railway with the Grand Mosque in Makkah with a station on Umm Al-Qura Road. It will also be linked to the Haramain Railway that will connect Makkah to Madinah and Jeddah.

The railway will have 20 trains in the next stage, each with 12 carriages and each carriage holding 250 passengers. About 20 percent of passengers will be seated while 80 percent will be standing. Trains will move at speeds between 80 and 120 km/hour.

Municipal and Rural Affairs Minister Prince Mansour bin Miteb has allayed public fears about the quality of the project, adding that it involves French, Canadian and German technology.

The railway project would bring about remarkable improvements in the transportation of pilgrims between the holy sites, one of the organizers' main headaches.

Commenting on media reports about the project, Prince Mansour said: "We respect what has been reported in the media. We benefit from the views being expressed by writers and citizens in the media. This project is designed by specialized international companies."

He said the various components of the railway are being supplied by major Western companies. "For example, its engines are Canadian and brakes are German. The project is being implemented by German Federal Railways Authority in association with the Saudi Engineering House," he said, adding, "I would like to reassure everybody about the safety and performance of the new railway." Twenty percent of seats in the train will be allocated for the elderly, said one official.

Abdul Qader Al-Jabarti, chairman of the Haj Committee, said more than 150,000 pilgrims from Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries will use the facility during the first phase. "These pilgrims account for 73 percent of domestic pilgrims," he said, adding that all pilgrims, including locals and foreigners, would be able to use the railway during the second phase of the project.

© Arab News 2010