GCC Rail – Saudi Arabia Rail Sector Update January 2018 (Part 1)
Current Saudi Arabia Rail Networks
For many years Saudi Arabia Rail networks and infrastructure (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia /KSA) have been the most advanced in the GCC region in comparison to other GCC countries. Saudi Railways Company (SAR) and Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) are the two state-owned companies which to date has operated the two main lines in Saudi Arabia rail, a 449 km passenger line and a 556 km freight line linking Dammam with Riyadh together with c.373 km of auxiliary branch lines from the main lines, connecting industrial and agricultural areas, military sites with export ports and residential areas.
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What Does Saudi Arabia Rail & Transportation Infrastructure Have planned In Their 2030 Vision?
Expansion of the transport infrastructure and the rail networks in KSA has been identified under KSA’s long-term developments plans ‘Vision 2030’ and the medium-term National Transformation Programme (NTP) to diversify the economy and reduce the reliance on oil. Many other GCC countries have now also followed suit with their own major investment and rail network expansion plans. KSA is investing heavily in rail and metro projects totaling 4200km, with 1700km currently under development
Saudi Arabia Rail – Update on Al Haramain Express Project
The Al Haramain Express will be Saudi Arabia’s first high-speed inter-city railway system (453km) that will transport passengers from Makkah (Mecca) to Madinah (Medina) (vice-versa) via Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City. The Haramain Express will achieve speeds of more than 300 km/h (190 mph) cutting travel time between the two cities to as low as 90 minutes.
Construction started in March 2009. The railway will carry many Hajj and Umrah pilgrim passengers, helping to relieve traffic congestion on the roads. The network will be connected to existing rail transport in Saudi Arabia at Jeddah. The project has been delayed and was originally planned to open in 2012. The whole project is scheduled to open in March 2018 with partial operations from December 2017.
First Journey 2017
At the start of December 2017 Dr. Nabil Al-Amoudi, minister of transport and chairman of SAR made the first trip on the first 450km full journey of the high-speed Haramain train. The non-stop journey went from Madinah (Medina) station to Makkah station to examine the readiness of the project before commercial operation of the service.
Al-Amoudi said that this project is of strategic importance and has attracted global attention, as it is one of the mega public transportation projects linking the two Holy Mosques of Makkah and Madinah; “In addition to the great benefit of transporting Umrah and Hajj pilgrims and visitors, the project facilitates transportation of citizens and residents in the Kingdom via the Holy Mosques high-speed rail through five stations and at high speed throughout the year”.
Pilot service journeys for Holy Mosques high-speed rail have been confirmed to continue into 2018 and some passengers will be invited to try the service. The number of pilot journeys will increase gradually until the full commercial operation and work is underway to determine the ticket prices to be appropriate and reflect the size of service provided in this project
Saudi Arabia Rail – Update On The North-South Railway
The North-South railway will be a passenger service which will connect Riyadh with Al Qassim, Hail, Majmaah, Al Jouf and Al Qurrayat (2750km). There is currently a freight North-South railway. SRO announced the North-South Railway Project way back in 2004. Then the government announced North-South Railway would be implemented in two phases.
The northern section of the line, Riyadh – Majmaah – Qassim passenger service was extended north to Hail and operational for passengers in November 2017. SAR also plans to introduce passenger services on the northern 645km section of the North-South Railway from Hail to Jouf and Al-Qurayyat on the Jordanian border in 2018.
Read more about The Latest GCC Rail Developments
Work on the southern section of the line has however been delayed. The minister of transport Dr. Mohammed Al-Owain stated in 2015 that: “Regarding the Southern Railway I would like to clarify that the ministry has not ignored this important project. The ministry has conducted a study on constructing railways in a number of regions including the southern regions.”
Other Saudia Arabia rail developments will be covered in our ‘GCC Rail – Saudi Arabia Rail Sector Update 2018 (Part 2)’ including KAFD Monorail , Jubail-Dammam line, Jeddah PTS , Makkah MMRT, Madinah Metro, Damman PTS, KSA Landbridge, Saudi-Bahrain, GCC Railway (KSA) , Upgrade Riyadh – Dammam, Riyadh Metro
We Are GCC Rail & Transportation Recruitment Experts
Over the past 10 years, our team of rail recruitment experts has had a hugely successful and proven track record. Ten Live have recruited across the GCC Rail and Transportation sectors of the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
We are specialists in placing expertise within Rail/Metro work streams. Ten Live acquire top talent from the global pool, both English speakers, and English/Arabic speakers.
In KSA we recruit for projects such as the Riyadh Metro, Makkah Metro, Jeddah Metro, Haramain High-Speed Rail project, North-South Railway, KSA Landbridge project, etc.
We source the highest quality candidates for international or local KSA companies and recruit rail professionals /workers who are based locally in KSA /GCC or candidates globally seeking to work in KSA.
We pride ourselves on providing our GCC rail & transportation clients with a personalised, tailored service supplying professional, reliable, permanent and contract resource :
- GCC rail & transportation recruitment – Search & Selection
- Contingency Recruitment
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- RPO
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How can we help you hire staff for your GCC rail project? Get in touch with Ten Live!
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