THE North Train arrived at Dammam seaport prior to its trial run that will take place in two months. The train will start from Qurayyat in a journey that will terminate in Riyadh after passing through Hail, Qassim and Majmaah. It was reported that the trial run of the Haramain train (running from Makkah to Madinah) has already been conducted. In fact, our story with the trains and the railways is an amazing one. Our country is one of the nations most in need of railway services because of the long distances between its cities and towns. For reasons unknown to us, we preferred that our means of inter-city transport would be the overbooked planes or cars that have caused a lot of deaths and injuries due to traffic accidents on the road. As the common saying goes, better late than never, so we have finally made it, albeit half a century late. The delay in the introduction of rail services has caused immense economic and social losses to us. This is because traveling between cities and towns was a real enigma. Probably if we had a train other than the Riyadh-Dammam train, which frequently breaks down and is on hold much more than it is on the run, we might have had many novels about the incidents that take place in the train. We might also have had a number of passionate songs, poems and lyrics with trains being their theme. In order not to exaggerate our optimism, we should realize that we are just taking half a step on a long road toward a comprehensive rail industry. Even if we started working with the North Train and the Haramain service, we would still be within the range of the half step. If the long-talked about GCC train to link the six member countries together was operational, we would still be lagging behind in the world of rail. We need a rail revolution to connect the country from north to south and from east to west. This cannot be done by a single company. It rather requires the establishment of a number of giant railway companies to make this possible and realize this dream as quickly as possible. The presence of trains in our country will reduce the burden on domestic flights operated by Saudi Arabian Airlines. It will also cut reliance on land transport, especially with regard to the transport of goods, instead of depending on trucks that have done great damage to our expressways. The trains will also provide additional work opportunities for our young men and women and will therefore reduce the rate of unemployment. They will mitigate pressure on the overcrowded air and land means of transport, particularly during the Haj and Umrah seasons and also during the school summer vacations and Eid holidays. Rail transport is no doubt a promising economic sector when it is linked to other supporting industries such as the manufacture of train compartments, tracks and spare parts. It was the pressing economic need that led to the establishment of the North Train (to transport raw materials from the north to industrial cities in the Eastern Province). It was also the need to transport pilgrims between Makkah and Madinah that has led to the introduction of the Haramain Express Train. However, we have to move fast out of consideration for our national and economic needs to promote the rail transport of passengers and goods. There are many important towns and cities in the world that have attributed their cultural, social and economic development to the moment trains reached them.
