Salman Al-Musalami Okaz/Saudi Gazette MAKKAH — The test run of the Haramain railway will be carried out after eight months in the northern sector connecting Madinah with Rabigh, an official source at the project said. He told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that all railway stations in this sector have been completed. The source said railway stations in the southern sector connecting Jeddah and Makkah are around 94 percent complete. “The test run on this sector will be made after eight months and the train will be put into service some time in 2016,” he said. A large number of locomotives arrived earlier in Madinah by land from Jeddah for technical tests. The express train will cover the distance of 453 km between Makkah and Madinah in one hour and 50 minutes. En-route to Madinah, the train will stop at the two main stations of Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh. The source said work on all bridges between Jeddah and Makkah has almost been completed. Work on the north sector of Madinah and Rabigh should have been completed in 2013 but it was delayed due to technical reasons.
