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Saudi Arabia Railways

Transport

Saudi Arabia Railways Overview

The national railway company of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) is fully owned by the Public Investment Fund and operates as a state-owned enterprise.

SAR was created to develop, manage and operate Saudi Arabia’s north-south railway project. In April 2021, it merged with the Saudi Railways Organisation, consolidating the kingdom’s railway operations under one entity.

SAR manages key railway lines, including the Haramain High Speed Railway (connecting Medina, Jeddah and Mecca), the Dammam-Riyadh line and the Riyadh-Qurayyat line (extending to Jordan).

SAR’s core business ventures include freight transport (minerals, petroleum, petrochemicals and containers) and passenger services.

Key projects under way include the Landbridge, a $7 billion initiative linking the east and west of Saudi Arabia, and a $690 million contract with Swiss rolling stock company Stadler for 10 “next-generation” passenger trains.

Saudi Arabia Railways News

Visitors at the Leap conference in Riyadh. Saudi technology company Alfanar is investing $1.4bn to develop four data centres

$5bn Neom data centre latest deal announced at Leap

Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion futuristic giga-project Neom has signed a $5 billion deal to develop what it claims will be the world’s first fully sustainable data centre. The agreement was signed with the Saudi IT and technology company DataVolt. The data centre will be located at Oxagon, with the first phase having a capacity of […]

Medina Station, Saudi Arabia: Saleh Al Jasser, minister of transport announced the launch of the Asasat Programme, to increase Saudi participation in the rail sector

Saudi railway network to reach 8,000km, says minister

Saudi Arabia will look to expand its railway network by around 45 percent in the coming years, the transport minister told a conference in Riyadh.  “The kingdom is set to experience unprecedented growth in its rail network, expanding to over 8,000km in the coming years,” Saleh Al Jasser, minister of transport and Saudi Arabia Railways […]

The Riyadh monorail will connect with the Metro running through King Abdullah Financial District

Driverless monorail planned for Riyadh’s financial district

An agreement to launch a driverless monorail project has been signed by King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in the Saudi capital Riyadh. The 3.6-kilometre system will have six trains travelling on an elevated circular track that will wind between the main towers of the district.  The system will have six stations across the district, connecting […]

Saudi Arabia already has a railway line between Riyadh and Dammam, and it now hopes to add a line to Jeddah

Financing being finalised for Riyadh-Jeddah railway line

Saudi Arabia Railways hopes to finalise financing for its “Landbridge” project linking the east and west of the country within months, an official said this week.  “It will cost at least $7 billion, it depends on the budget. If the budget’s available then we will start building, it will be finished before 2030,” Mesfer Alyami, […]

Saudi Arabia is looking to shift traffic to its railways to improve road safety and reduce carbon emissions from car usage

Passenger numbers on Saudi trains leap 23% in a year

Passenger traffic on Saudi railways rose 23 percent year on year to 2.7 million people in the first quarter of 2024, the state operator said this week, as the kingdom pushes to improve infrastructure before a 2030 deadline.  The railway system also saw a 9 percent rise in the volume of minerals and goods transported, […]

Saudi Arabia Railways selected Stadler as the preferred bidder last year for its new passenger trains

Saudi Arabia signs $690m passenger train order

Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) has signed a $690.16 million contract with Stadler, a Swiss rail infrastructure and train manufacturer, for 10 “next-generation” passenger trains for its growing railway network. The state-owned rail network operator can order an additional 10 units in the future, state-run SPA news agency reported.  Trains will be 175 metres long, self-propelled […]

Twenty battery-powered trams will serve AlUla's five historical districts

Alstom agrees $550m deal for Saudi battery tram

The French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom has signed a contract worth more than €500 million ($547 million) to build a battery-powered tram system in the Saudi tourist destination AlUla. The company’s deal with the Royal Commission for AlUla will result in the world’s longest tram system without an overhead electrical line. The system will have […]

Although Kuwait and Dubai have taken different routes with their metro plans, the GCC is pushing ahead with rail links between member cities

After stops and starts, GCC rail is back on 2030 timetable

In the same week that Dubai announced a 30km extension of its metro network, Kuwait revealed that its $20 billion four-line metro project is to be cancelled. If anything sums up the difficulties associated with connecting the GCC countries by rail, then it is this. Kuwait’s metro hit the buffers as a result of “significant […]

French Saudi investment forum

Saudi and France to ‘unleash potential’ after $2.9bn deals

Saudi Arabia and France will work together to “unleash the full potential” of their trade relationship as they look beyond traditional sectors such as energy. That was the message from Saudi investment minister Khalid Al-Falih at the conclusion of the French-Saudi Investment Forum. Last year, French-Saudi trade volumes increased by more than 80 percent to […]