Saudi Arabia has started construction of an ambitious light-rail project exclusively for the capital city, where 36 stations will be built in the first phase. This project is aimed at reducing congestion in a city where 87 percent of the population uses private cars as the primary mode of transport. “This Light Transit Railway (LTR) project for the capital city, as it is called, comes under the jurisdiction of ArRiyadh Development Authority (ADA),” Mohammed Abu-Zaid, a spokesman for the Saudi Railways Organization (SRO), said on Monday. Abuzaid also pointed out that the SRO would receive eight train cars within 36 months from now from the Spanish company CAF. “The total cost of these eight train units is about SR612 million,” Abuzaid told the Jeddah-based Arab News. --MORE
