Seven languages will be used on all signs on the Holy Sites Train and on those inside and outside the nine stations in Arafat, Mina and Muzdalifa in order to guide pilgrims to the train stations, said Dr. Habeeb Zain Al-Abdeen, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Holy Sites Train development projects supervisor. He said that signs in Arabic, English, Urdu, French, Turkish, Persian and Indonesian will guide pilgrims to the railway stations and give them instructions on the use the train. However, Arabic and English are the only official languages for the operation of the train system, he added. He assured Saudi Gazette that what has been mentioned in some sections of the media about free train tickets was not true. “The Supreme Haj Committee is responsible for setting the price of tickets on the Holy Sites Train. The tickets will not be free, and the income will go directly to a special account in the Ministry of Finance,” he said. Prince Mansour Bin Mite'b, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, said during an inspection tour of the Holy Sites Tuesday that a special committee supervising the railway project chose the green color on the exterior and interior of the train carriages because they felt that it was symbolic of the Kingdom. Responding to criticism of the design of the train carriages which has been expressed in some quarters, the Prince said: “The committee based their choice of design on the quality of the most modern trains in the world. However, we respect what has been mentioned in the media regarding the look and style of the train.” The China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) is constructing the railway and according to Fahd Abo Tarboosh, the executive director responsible for transportation to the Jamarat Bridge, the general directory of the central administration for the development of projects in the Holy Sites will supervise CRCC, which will operate and maintain the project for three years. “After three years the Chinese company will train a Saudi workforce to operate, maintain and supervise the railway so that it will be 100 percent Saudi in the future,” he said. Guangfa Zhao, Executive Director of CRCC, told Saudi Gazette about some of the problems encountered in constructing the Holy Sites Train in the 22 months that the company has been working on the project. The hot weather in the Holy Sites, the different culture of the Kingdom and the short period for implementing the project were the main difficulties faced by the Chinese workers. “This kind of train project usually takes at least three years to be finished. Luckily, we were able to finish sooner by issuing 11,000 visas for Chinese laborers who worked around the clock to finish the project on time,” he said.
