Transport Minister Jabara Al-Seraisry said the Haramain High Speed Rail will be completed as scheduled and passenger trains will start running in early 2014.
Al-Seraisry, who is also chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Railway Organization (SRO), made the statement in an inspection tour of the work site of a railway station on King Abdul Aziz Street in Madinah on Friday.
The minister was accompanied by President of SRO Abdul Aziz Al-Hokail, Undersecretary for Roads at the Transport Ministry Abdullah Al-Muqbil and a number of officials.
The minister said an additional station at Abyar Ali in Madinah would be constructed after the five originally planned stations have been built, Al-Madinah daily reported on Saturday.
Crown Prince Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, ordered the construction of the Abyar Ali station because it was the location from where pilgrims heading for Makkah should change to the ihram, an obligatory state of dress when performing the rites of Haj and Umrah.
The five stations originally planned were Jeddah city, King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh, apart from the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
He said the need for a station at Abyar Ali was felt only after the contracts for the other stations were awarded.
The minister said his desire was to ensure all railway workers were Saudis, but for safety and technological reasons expatriate experts would also have to be appointed. Saudization levels will be at 75 percent, he said.
He added the railway contracts stipulated Saudi workers should have to be trained in specialized areas of train and railway operations.
"All obstacles including the acquisition of properties that stood in the way of the project have been removed," he said.
He said one of the major obstacles was tracing the owners of unidentified properties.
He added train tickets for the Makkah-Madinah trains would be affordable to both ordinary passengers and pilgrims. He also said train services will be operated round the year. All trains will have sufficient seats as the contract for the second stage of the project included the supply of 35 trains with 385 compartments, he said.
© Arab News 2012
