MADINAH — A test run will to be carried out on a stretch of the Al-Haramain Train track from Rabigh to Madinah at the end of the year, said sources from the Ministry of Transport. Work on building a train station in Madinah started in 2011 and took three years to complete. The Madinah station has been designed according to world-class standards and consists of an arrival and departure terminal, a mosque that can accommodate 600 worshippers, a Civil Defense station, a helipad, six train platforms, a car park with capacity to hold 1,000 cars and VIP lounges. The station is also linked to the city's public transport system. The high-speed Haramain Railway was expected to be operational by December 2015 but railway officials said in March 2014 that only 50 percent of the work had been carried out and that the service would not be running until 2016. The 453-kilometer rail project is one of the most ambitious in the Kingdom and will link Madinah and Makkah via King Abdullah Economic City, Rabigh, Jeddah, and King Abdulaziz International Airport.
