Saudi Arabia

Country Details

See Wikipedia

National Railway System

National Railway Operator

Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR).

The Haramain High Speed Railway (HHR) has its own site.

See Railways in Saudi Arabia description at sinfin.net.

SAR (North)

The passenger route is from Riyadh (KM 0) to Qurriyat station near the Jordan border. At some time in the future the line will cross into Jordan and to that end the 19km north from Qurriyat to the border at Al Haditha has been constructed. The line opened in stages from 2017, finally reaching Qurriyat in 2022. Stations: • Riyadh North (also known as King Khalid International Airport station although the 2 are over 20km distance from each other via road, and no metro connection). An infrequent bus shuttle operates - Airport front line staff are clueless about its existence! • Maj’mah Km 190 • Qassim Km 352 • Hail Km 622 • Al Jouf Km 924 • Qassim Km 1241 In the current TT, Riyadh – Qassim has 2 return pair trains, Riyadh – Hail has 1 pair daily. All are out-and back from Riyadh. North of Hail there is 1 train per week, northbound from Riyadh on Wednesday nights and southbound from Qurriyat on Saturday nights. This conveys seats, sleepers and motorail vehicles. Train maintenance depot is at Riyadh, with a servicing point at Qurriyat.

Rolling stock used is CAF-built diesel units with a power car at both ends. There are 6 units, the 12 power cars are regularly swapped for maintenance.

SAR (East)

The passenger route is from Dammam to Riyadh (East) station. This was the first railway to operate and started passenger operations in 1966. Stations: • Dammam (Km 0) • Abqaiq Km 74 • Hofuf Km 139 • Riyadh (East) Km 449 There are generally 5 or 6 train pairs over the route, and a peak hour service from Hofuf to Dammam (am) and return (pm). This operates Saudi business days which are Sun-Thurs.

Train maintenance workshops are at Dammam with a sub-depot at Riyadh. All trains are CAF-built diesel units with a power car (usually pushing) and a driving trailer vehicle. Trains are turned on triangles at Dammam and Riyadh. There are 12 train sets with 14 power cars in the fleet.

There is no easy public transport link between the SAR East and North stations. Best option is from SAR East station on Line 3 (Orange line) to An Naseem connecting to Purple Line (Line 6) to Granadia station and its 15 minutes or so from there by taxi. In Riyadh use green taxis – they have meters! Alternatively Uber, Careem and other social media ride-hail systems are available.

Haramain High Speed Railway

Owned and marketed by SAR but operated on concession by the Spanish railway company consortium that built it.

Frequent and regular services between Mecca (Makkah) and Medina (Madinah) via Jeddah and/or Jeddah Airport (King Abdulaziz International Airport). Direct services between Jeddah Airport and Mecca, and Jeddah Airport and Medina. Stations: • Mecca (Km 0) • Jeddah Sulimaniya (city) Km 78 • King Abdullah Economic City Km 180 • Medina Km 449 • Jeddah KAIA (96 Km from Mecca, 362 Km from Medina) at the end of a branch from the main line with a triangular junction.

During the holy month of Ramadan the timetable is greatly altered with many services operating overnight.

Rolling stock is 350 km/h Talgo high-speed EMUs. The maintenance depot is at Medina with a servicing shed at Mecca. There are 35 units in service, and a further VIP trainset for exclusive use. Power cars are dedicated to each train set.

Maps

• Online: web archive copy of Saudi Arabia and Jordan map from the Railways Through Europe site, dated June 2009
• Printed: World Rail Atlas - The Middle East and Caucasus by Neil Robinson

Timetable

• Printed: summary timetables are available in some editions of the European Rail Timetable.

• Information is available at the Man in Seat 61.

Journey Planner

SAR Train Schedule.

The Haramain High Speed Railway (HHR) has its own site.

Ticketing and boarding

SAR (North)
Trains can sell out in advance, so early booking is recommended. Platform access is restricted to ticket holders and there is airline-style check-in, boarding and disembarking. Passengers are not permitted onto the platform until the train has arrived. All seats are to be reserved, no open tickets for change of plan or standing.

SAR (East) Trains usually sell out some days before operation, so early booking is recommended. Platform access is restricted to ticket holders and there is airline-style check-in, boarding and disembarking. Passengers are not permitted onto the platform until the train has arrived. All seats are to be reserved, no open tickets for change of plan or standing.

Haramain High Speed Railway Platform access is restricted to ticket holders and there is airline-style check-in, boarding and disembarking. Passengers are not permitted onto the platform until the train has arrived. All seats are to be reserved, no open tickets for change of plan or standing.
Only Muslims are permitted to enter the holy city of Mecca, and when making a booking online one has to enter passport or Saudi national ID numbers, and if the journey includes Mecca an on-screen warning message requires the booking party to confirm he/she is a Muslim.

Infrastructure

Gauge

• 1,435 mm (4 foot 8 +1⁄2 inch) Standard.

Electrification

• 25 kV a.c. 60 Hz - overhead catenary for the Haramain High Speed Railway (HHR).
• 750 V d.c. third rail for Riyadh metro.

Rule of the road

• Not Known.

Distances

See individual lines under National Railway Operator

Other Railways

There is a freight route between Hofuf and Riyadh but it is not cleared for passenger use (no signalling interlocking, hand worked points).

Tourist Lines

There are no tourist railways at present.

Metro and light rail systems

• Riyadh
  • See UrbanRail for basic route map Riyadh map. Riyadh public transport website.is here.
• Mecca - Al Mashaaer Al Mugadassah Metro
  • This is the unique metro in the holy valley to the east of Mecca which only operates during the week of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Urbanrail map is here. As such it is only accessible by Muslims who are registered for the Hajj, there is a strict security cordon around the whole city during the time of the Hajj and it isn’t visible from any of the roads accessible by non-Muslims. Stations: Arafat 1, Arafat 2, Arafat 3, Muzdalifah 1, Muzdalifah 2, Muzdalifah 3, Mina 1, Mina 2 and Mina 3 (Jamarat). The line is 14km long, mostly on viaducts. Stations have platform edge doors. Trains are high-capacity Chinese built (CRRC) EMUs with 12 carriages and a capacity of over 3,000 people per train. There are 17 units, and they are maintained at Arafat depot. Trainset 04 has been out of service for several years with derailment damage.
• Princess Nourah University for Women APM
  • This university in Riyadh has a private 14km Automatic People Mover railway. It operates exclusively for the female students and university staff and only during university term times. It has double track with a circle route and 2 branches leading to the student accommodation and to the staff accommodation. There are 10 faculty stations on the circle line and a further 4 stations on the branches. The depot is visible from Riyadh Metro Gold Line (Line 4) north from PNU station. There are 22 2-car driverless EMUs, built by Ansaldo (now Hitachi).
• KAIA Airport APM
  • This is a 0.7km long twin track automatic people mover system in Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport Terminal 1. It operates in the International part of the terminal and is used in both directions by arriving and departing international airline passengers, it is within the secure area and not accessible by non-travellers. It is all underground. There are 2 stations, one at the passport control end and the other at the boarding gates end. Built by Bombardier (now Alstom) it is very similar in construction and vehicles to that at London Heathrow T5.There are 10 cars with rubber tyres on a concrete guideway. They can operate in multiples of 2, 3 or 4 depending on the service capacity required.

Recent and Future Changes

Recent Changes

Riyadh Metro was officially opened on 27 November 2024 with public service commencing for the Blue, Yellow & Purple lines (Nos. 1, 4, and 6) on the 1 December 2024. The Red and Green Lines (Nos. 2 & 5) opened 15 December 2024 and the Orange Line (No. 3) on 5 January 2025.

Future Changes

Saudi Arabia plans to expand its network by a further 2700 km in the coming years.

Lines with Obscure or Sparse passenger services

See Saudi Arabia - Lines with Obscure or Sparse passenger services.