All you need to know about Saudi Arabia's Haramain high-speed rail

Saudi Arabia's King Salman will today inaugurate the Haramain high-speed railway, one of the largest and state-of-the-art transportation projects in the Middle East so far.

Argaam takes a look at the mega-project that marks an important milestone in the expansion plan of Saudi railway network under Vision 2030.

The Haramain high-speed railway project links the holy cities of Makkah and Medina passing via Jeddah, Jeddah airport and King Abdullah Economic City, through a 450 km electric double railway line.

It is the Middle East’s fastest train with an operational speed up to 300 Km/hour that will reduce the travelling time between the two holy cities to two hours.

The railway line has five stations: Makkah, Jeddah, King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah, King Abdullah Economic City and Medina; with an annual capacity of 60 million passengers.

The project has a fleet of 35 trains each having 417 seats, equipped with the latest amenities and technology to facilitate a traveler's journey.

Each train will include four business class coaches, eight tourism category coaches and one cafeteria van.

The work was completed in two stages -- the first included the design and implementation of the civil work and stations while the second stage included railway, communications and safety systems, supply of trains, operation and maintenance of the project as well as the airport tunnel.

The train will launch commercial services on Oct. 4, according to data available on Argaam.