The current pilgrim rail fare of SR250 will remain unchanged, decided a panel set up by Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, to look into the ticket fare of the ultra-modern Mashair Train network. The fare will cover the entire Haj trip from Dhul Hijja 7 to the third day of Al-Tashreeq and will take pilgrims from Mina to Arafat and from Arafat to Muzdalifa and the return to Mina on Dhul Hijja 10, said Undersecretary at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs Dr. Habeeb Bin Mustafa Zain Al-Abedeen. The completion of the Mashair Train Project means the train will have a capacity to transport 500,000 pilgrims in this year's Haj and will ferry them at an average rate of 90,000 per hour, which is higher than any other train system in the world, he said. Trains will be checked every day with a complete maintenance to be carried out every four years. The ministry is also considering extending the train's service to the Holy Haram and Al-Haramain Train at Al-Shamaysi checkpoint and the car park at JeddahMakkah Expressway. Dr. Al-Abedeen urged all pilgrims to benefit from the train service to prevent traffic jams in the holy sites. This year the service will be limited to local pilgrims and those from GCC states and to some of the land pilgrims served by the Arab Countries Mutawifs (guides) in addition to 200,000 pilgrims from South Asia including Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. The panel is looking into other possible benefits from the train network in the tourism field, especially religious tourism during the Umrah season. The number of Saudi youth employed in the project has jumped from 1,200 last year to 4,000. They are working in fields such as crowd management and operating trains. __
