Faleh Al-Dhubyani Okaz/ Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The Higher Committee for the Development of Makkah and the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs are working on a plan aimed at extending the service of the Mashaer Train to Jeddah via the holy city. The train is expected to carry 350,000 worshippers a day. The total cost of the project is estimated at SR6 billion. Rails will be built be on suspension bridges situated on the traffic island on Makkah-Jeddah Expressway. The first railway station will be set up at Prince Fawaz Housing Project at the entrance to Jeddah and there will be three more stations in the city. The committee has fixed the round-trip ticket fare at SR10, and it would take 40 minutes to move the worshippers from Jeddah to Makkah. The project, which will serve 10 million worshippers moving between Jeddah and Makkah, is expected to generate SR600 million in revenue annually. The railway will run concurrently with the 480-km Haramain Express Railway that will link the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah. The Haramain Railway will have two stations in the first stage besides the terminals in Makkah and Madinah — one at King Abdulaziz Airport and another in Sulaimaniyah district of Jeddah. According to Jabara Al-Seraisry, Transport Minister, the high-speed railway line would be completed by January 2014 as planned. Once commissioned, the railway will reduce the travel time between the two holy cities to less than two hours.
