Speaking at a ceremony in Sakaka, Al-Rumaih said SAR would operate trains with a speed of 200 km/hour to transport passengers. “We have completed 800 km of railway from a total of 1,486 km,” he said highlighting progress on the project.
The ceremony was held to mark the inspection of the railway project by Al-Jouf Gov. Prince Fahd bin Badr, who said the North-South Railway would bring about a qualitative change in travel between Saudi cities.
Speaking to reporters after inspecting 40 km of railway lines inside Al-Jouf, Prince Fahd said the “giant project” would boost the social, economic, commercial and industrial development of regions along the railway.
“This railway project is now in the final stage,” the governor said, commending all those who have worked hard to implement the project.
Al-Rumaih said the North-South Railway would transport 15,000 tons of minerals in a single trip, adding that each train would have 100 carriages. He said the trains and carriages for the railway would reach the Kingdom in August and September in order to start the transportation of minerals by the end of this year.
The Kingdom’s railway expansion project envisages 3,900 km of new track.
In addition to the Landbridge Project linking the Kingdom’s east with its west, two other major new rail projects are moving closer. These include a 450-km high-speed Haramain railway to link Jeddah with Makkah and Madinah.
The 2,400-km North-South Railway is given priority due to its importance to industrial development.
Sponsored by the Public Investment Fund, this rail line is integral to planned phosphate and bauxite mining projects in the north of the country that will link up with processing plants and smelters on the Gulf coast.
The North-South Railway is of strategic importance to the national economy, as the processing of phosphates, which exists in commercial quantities, will place the Kingdom second internationally in their export, besides accommodating fertilizer industry technology. It will also increase oil, agricultural and industrial products transportation, as well as goods and passengers.
