The officials started the tour from Station No. 3 in Muzdalifah. Next they visited the stations in Mina beginning from the station on the fourth level of Jamrat Bridge, and then went on to the stations in Arafat and the rail control room there.

Only 35 percent of the work for the Mashair Railway has been completed.

The first train will be flagged off at 12 a.m. early Monday. The nine trains have a capacity to transport 30,000 pilgrims an hour. Each train is 300 meters in length. When the SR6.65 billion project is completed, there will be 20 trains in service carrying up to 72,000 pilgrims an hour. They are projected to transport more than half a million pilgrims in 10 hours.

Studies are also under way to extend the service to the Grand Mosque.

The double-track 20-km Mashair Railway in the southern side of the holy sites runs on elevated tracks beginning from the fourth level of the Jamrat Bridge above the King Abdulaziz Road in Mina to Muzdalifah and ends at Station No. 3 in Arafat. The project has nine elevated stations. There are three stations each in Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat. The length of each station with two platforms is 300 meters and each platform has the capacity to hold 3,000 pilgrims.

Tickets are sold to domestic pilgrim companies at SR250 per ticket, which can be used on all Haj days. On the last day all pilgrims can use the trains at the rate of SR100.

The huge influx of pilgrims will be controlled just like pilgrims are controlled at the Jamrat Bridge. They will be taken in groups of 3,000 to stations on Sunday night.

The train service will also be used in the Umrah and Ramadan seasons to take pilgrims to Makkah from stations close to their residences to King Abdulaziz Street and from there to the central zone by bus.