Hospital to build a light rail By Majid Al-Mufadhili Okaz/Saudi Gazette MAKKAH — The Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) has rejected a proposal from King Abdullah Medical City (KAMC) administrators to build an Al-Haramain Train station at the hospital on the Jeddah to Makkah Expressway. According to sources, the SRO's technical consultants said the station would be too close to a station in Makkah, a distance of only 18 km. The high-speed train, which will travel at around 300 km an hour, will not have time to slow down as it travels from the Jeddah station to the hospital site. Sources said KAMC administrators wanted a train station to make it easily accessible to staff, patients and visitors. “The train needs time to slow down and stop. In addition, the distance between the train station in Jeddah and the station in Makkah is a mere 78 km. The train will cover this distance in not more than 30 minutes,” said a source. To solve the situation, the hospital will now build a light rail to link up with the Jeddah train station. The 444-km high-speed Al-Haramain Train will have stations in Makkah, Madina, Jeddah, King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh and King Abdul Aziz International Airport. It will reduce travel time between Makkah and Jeddah to less than half-an-hour and between Madina and Jeddah to less than two hours. According to reports, the final phase of the multibillion riyal train project will be signed soon and will see the purchase of 35 trains with 13 carriages, traffic signs and railway tracks. This phase will reportedly cost just over SR30 billion. It will include a Spanish/Saudi consortium carrying out operations and maintenance for 12 years.?Currently, civil works are being completed in addition to the building of four train stations. __
