A SR6.79 billion ($1.8 billion) Haramain Express train contract was signed here Wednesday. Dr. Ibrahim Bin Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance and Chairman of Board of Directors of General Investment Fund, and Jubarah Al-Suraisiri, Minister of Transport and Chairman of Board of Directors of General Organization for Railways, signed the contract with Al-Rajhi consortium. The contract, which covers ground and civil engineering works, is the first of several to be awarded for the 450 km high-speed rail linking Jeddah to Makkah and Madina. China Railway Construction subsidiary China Railway 18th Bureau Group and two Saudi firms, including Al Arrab Contracting Co, are part of the winning consortium, contractors said at a signing ceremony in Riyadh. The project aims to ease the congestion on the road linking the two cities and reduce the duration of the road trip, the transport ministry said in a document describing the railway. Saudi Arabia expects the number of worshippers traveling to Makkah and Madina to more than double to 14 million per year by 2030 from 5.5 million in 2005, the transport ministry said. Carrying at least three million people a year, the railway, which will be operated by the state-controlled Saudi Railways Org, is due for completion by the end of 2012, Al-Assaf told reporters. “This project will benefit millions of Muslims from around the globe,” the minister said. Saudi Arabia will finance the project through the state-owned Public Investment Fund, Mansour Al-Maiman, secretary general of the fund, told reporters. The railway will include a station at Jeddah's airport, the main arrival point for Muslim worshippers. The transport ministry said the trains, which would travel at 320 km per hour, would reduce by more than half to two hours the length of time it takes to travel by car from Jeddah to Madina. It would also cut to 30 minutes the time it takes to transport worshippers from Jeddah to Makkah.
