SAR to start Riyadh – Qassim passenger service

Test running has started on part of Saudi Railway Company’s (SAR) 2750km North-South Railway in preparation for the launch of passenger services on the southern section from Riyadh to Qassim at the end of the year.
SAR plans to start with a daily service from Riyadh to Qassim with an intermediate stop at Mujamma’ah and a journey time of just over 2 hours. The day service will eventually be extended north to Hail, while an overnight service will link Riyadh with Qassim, Hail, Al-Jouf and Al-Qurrayat, a distance of 1250km.
CAF is supplying four day trains and two overnight trains under a contract worth in excess of EUR 400 million, and the first train was handed over to SAR in Riyadh in September 2015.