Prince Mansour Bin Mite'b, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, Tuesday made an inspection tour of the Holy Sites Train and other projects being carried out by his ministry. He took the Holy Sites Train ride during its first trial-run, and announced that the safety and security system on the Holy Sites Train has been approved by the Germanic Federal Union of Trains. The first stage of the Holy Sites train will be launched during this year's Haj season, announced Minister of Haj Dr. Fuad Al-Farsy. He said the first stage will operate at 35 percent capacity and will be limited to local, Gulf Cooperation Council and pilgrims coming in with vehicles. On completion, its full capacity will be 500,000 pilgrims. He said the price of tickets is still being studied. He said the train will transport pilgrims from Muzdalifa to the Jamarat stoning area, through stations. Dr. Habeeb Zain Al-Abdeen, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, said a study was conducted recently to see whether the train can link the Grand Mosque with King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah via the Al-Haramain and Umm Al-Qura stations. This project will be carried out if it proves to be cost effective, he said. The train will transport 72,000 pilgrims an hour, which is the largest capacity in the world. He said the train ticket will be prepaid This type of train, which is already being used in New Zealand, will operate a distance of 18 kilometers at the Holy Sites. There will be a total of 17 to 20 trains. Each train will have 12 carts with a total capacity of 250 passengers per cart, and 3,000 passengers for each train. Engineer Fahad Abo Tarboosh, the executive director responsible for transportation to the Jamarat Bridge, told SG that a trial run will be held on Aug. 1 from the train station coming from the direction of Taif to Muzdalifa over a distance of 10 kilometers. On Sept.1, the second phase will see the trains run from Muzdalifa towards the Jamarat Bridge. On Oct. 1 the trains will move to the different train stations at the Holy Sites. On Dec. 1, which is the 7th day of Dhul Hijjah, the trains will transport 35 percent of the pilgrims. Fahad said that 20 percent of the seats will be allocated for elderly pilgrims when it travels from Arafat to Muzdalifa. Fahad said there will be nine stations, three each in Mina, Muzdalifa and Arafat. –With input from Hassan Al-Zahrani
