PHOTO
Saudi Arabia is on track to develop its rail networks as part of a GCC-wide push to ramp up regional transportation, with the high-speed Haramain railway now operating at near-full capacity and Riyadh’s Metro three-quarters complete, said a report.
As part of the kingdom's rail expansion programme, another 800 km of track, along with sleeping coaches, are being added to the North-South railway, reported Arab News.
Saudi’s North-South Line, which opened in 2017, links the Al Jawf region to Riyadh. In a first for the country, the Saudi Rail Organisation introduced night trains with sleeping coaches on this sector, it stated.
Such projects are helping the country move toward realizing the goals of Vision 2030, with transportation a key driver of the economic renaissance that will take place as the kingdom’s economy moves away from its reliance on oil, remarked Dr Rumaih Al Rumaih, president of the Public Transport Authority in Saudi Arabia.
He was speaking at the Middle East Rail conference, part of the Middle East Smart Mobility event held in Dubai last week, where he provided an update of the Kingdom’s ambitious transportation plans.
The Haramain High Speed Railway is another project launched last year by King Salman - a high-tech, state-of-the-art 450km-line connecting five stations between Madinah and Makkah at 300km/hour, noted Dr Al Rumaih.
"There are plans to add more lines to the railway in the future, with a connection between Yanbar Industrial City and the King Abdullah Port by the Red Sea, as well as a 1,150km-land bridge linking the Kingdom’s east coast to its west coast," he added.
Copyright 2019 Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
