The Saudi Railway Company (SAR) will soon invite tenders for building a state-of-the-art railway station in Riyadh, Dr. Rumaih Al-Rumaih, CEO of the company, announced here Sunday. The proposed railway station, for which the land acquisition formalities have already been completed, will be built over an area of 50,000 square meters near King Khalid International Airport (KKIA). The new station will be designed to accommodate 800,000 passengers annually, Al-Rumaih said, addressing a press conference which was called to announce the status of the SR16 billion railway line project. He said that about 900 kilometers of railway line, out of a total 1,486 kilometers, have already been completed. The railway consists of two main lines: One for transporting minerals and the other for passengers. The passenger line will connect Riyadh with Al-Haditha, passing through Qassim, Sudair, Hail, and Al-Jouf. An estimated 1.5 million passengers will make use of the railway services annually, Al-Rumaih said quoting an SAR feasibility study conducted four years ago. The final phase of the passenger line, which is now under construction, will be finished by 2012 and will be operational by 2013, he said. The second railway line runs from Riyadh to Al-Haditha and connects several areas for the transportation of minerals, such as phosphate to Hazm Al-Jalamid mine in the northeast of the Kingdom. It will also connect Al-Zabirah Junction and Ras Al-Zawr. When completed the new railway network will create jobs for 3,000 Saudis. Al-Rumaih said SAR has also been working closely with the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) to design training programs for Saudi engineers, technicians and maintenance staff.
