12 October 2003
Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies
© Copyright 2003. OANA. All rights reserved.


JEDDAH, Oct 12, SPA - Khaled Al-Yahya, Chairman of the Saudi Railways Organization, has said that two railway projects linking the east of the Kingdom with the west will cost some SR10 billion. The Supreme Economic Council, chaired by Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz, the deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, has approved the project.

"Within a few weeks, we will announce the financial and legal consultants for the two projects," Okaz Arabic newspaper quoted Al-Yahya as saying. The project will take three to five years to complete.

The first project will link the western Red Sea port of Jeddah with the eastern Arabian Gulf port of Dammam by a 1,000 km railway line. The second one will link Jeddah with the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah and will include an extension to the port of Yanbu. This 500 km line will facilitate the transportation of pilgrims.

Al-Yahya said that the north-south railway, beginning in the far north and connecting to Riyadh region, will have a total length of 1,400 km. It will be used to transport minerals to Jubail Industrial City.

"All these projects will be established with private sector support," the chairman explained.

Al-Yahya said Saudi Arabia, with a population of more than 20 million and having one of the 25 largest economies in the world, needs a major railway project. The chairman said there were plans to acquire 16 new carriages with 80 seats each at a total cost of SR60 million. He said the organization had renovated all the 60 carriages.

About 800,000 passengers use the railway line between Dammam and Riyadh every year. "This is the average number of passengers traveling over the past three years. We believe that the introduction of new carriages will increase the capacity by 40 percent," Al-Yahya added. - SPA.