DAMMAM — A trial run of the Haramain Express Railway will be conducted soon on the sector between Madinah and the King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh, Al-Madina Arabic daily reported Sunday. The high-speed train will link Makkah and Madinah through Jeddah and will also operate between Madinah and Rabigh. “The trial run will continue until summer at a speed reaching 300 km an hour,” said Chairman of the Saudi Railway Organization (SRO) Mohammed Al-Suwaiket. He said the first train had already arrived in the Kingdom consisting of two locomotives, 13 carriages accommodating up to 417 passengers and a pantry car. “This is the biggest railway project in the history of he Kingdom,” Al-Suwaiket said, adding both the SRO and the Transport Ministry were determined to implement the leadership's ambitions to provide fast and safe means of transport to pilgrims and residents. He said the electricity-powered train will cross a distance of 453 km an hour and will be equipped with modern signals and communications systems. “The experimental operations are also meant to check the trains and high-speed railway's durability in the hot and humid climate and also during sandstorms,” he said. The train will cross the distance between Jeddah and Makkah in 30 minutes and the distance between Makkah and Madinah in two and a half hours. Al-Suwaiket said the project consists of the construction of a training center in Dammam at a cost of about SR30 billion.
