Haramain rail project set for completion by January 2014
480km railway line will pass through Jeddah to serve Haj and Umrah pilgrims more efficiently
Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Transport, Jabara Al-Seraisry has said construction is under way on the Haramain High Speed Rail Project between Makkah and Madinah.
Set for completion by January 2014, the 480km railway line, constructed specifically for high-speed electric trains, will pass through the port city of Jeddah to serve Haj and Umrah pilgrims more efficiently, said Al-Seraisry, who is also chairman of the Saudi Railway Organisation.
The government awarded an $8.2bn contract in January to Al-Shoula Company, a Saudi-Spanish consortium, to implement the second phase of the project.
The first phase of the Haramain project includes the building of a railway station at Makkah and Madinah and two stations in Jeddah including the one at King Abdulaziz International Airport.
The Kingdom currently has 1,200km of railway lines and when current rail projects are complete, the total will be closer to 7,000km.
New railway and expansion projects currently underway include North-South Rail, the Land-bridge Project between Riyadh and Jeddah, and the GCC Railway.
