Al-Hoqail made the comments at the first meeting of the newly constituted SRO board of directors in Dammam on Wednesday, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The meeting was chaired by Minister of Transport Jabara Al-Seraisry, who is also the chairman of SRO’s board of directors.

Other members of the board include Tawfiq Al-Rabeeah, director general of the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Regions; Abdullah Al-Muqhim, director general of the legal administration at the Customs Department; Muhammad Al-Fahd, adviser and supervisor general of the General Administration for Legal Affairs; Abdullah Ammar, chairman of the Al-Yamamah Group of Companies and Muhammad Al-Imran, president of the Al-Imran Company.

Besides the Haj pilgrims, the Haramain Railway will serve millions of visitors to Makkah and Madinah throughout the year.

In another development, SRO presented a model of the SR6.7 billion Haramain Railway project, which links the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, at an ongoing exhibition at King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran.

Muhammad Abu Zaid, director of SRO’s public relations, said the railway is striving to reduce the running time of trains by upgrading rail lines to achieve a speed of 180 kilometer per hour.

He said safety systems, particularly signals and communications, have been upgraded with a main control center at Dammam railway station. The center will be able to control trains, change a train’s tracks remotely and communicate with crews.

Abu Zaid said SRO has planned the construction of 35 road bridges at railway crossings. He said other SRO projects include the completion of fencing of the two sides of railway lines, straightening of curves and replacement of concrete sleepers.