38,000 candidates have responded to the recruitment drive organised by Saudi Railway Polytechnic (SRP), Renfe’s training partner for the Haramain high speed railway project, for women interested in participating in the training course for high-speed female train drivers, which will ultimately see 35 Saudi women earn their licence and start working at Renfe KSA, Renfe’s branch in Saudi Arabia.
The second recruitment drive for the training course for women closed with 10,000 applications more than the previous recruitment drive.
The first drive, organised in 2022, had a huge impact on Saudi society: 28,000 women applied as part of the selection process. Of them, 14,000 applicants passed the first phase of the process and sat an exam at the Saudi Railway Polytechnic facility in the city of Qassim.
Ultimately, 34 women started training and became the first female train drivers in the country and in the Middle East. Assisting women to become high-speed train drivers is a clear commitment to Saudi women as we move into the future.
This new recruitment drive pays testament to Renfe’s commitment to the recruitment of women in all areas of its activity in Saudi Arabia, where more than a third of the workforce hired by the operator are women, making the Spanish company a pioneer in the Middle East.
Theoretical and practical training to become a train driver
The prerequisites for possible applicants are that they must be Saudi nationals, aged between 22 and 30 years, have an average educational score of 70% or higher, proficiency in English and they must also pass the entrance exams.
In the recruitment drive 35 places were made available. The training process, which lasts one year, will begin in July and consist of 483 hours of theoretical training and 674 hours of practical training, until trainees ultimately obtain their driving licence.
Following this process, in which Renfe participates with its training partner in the country, the Saudi Railway Polytechnic, a new batch of Saudi women will join the Renfe KSA workforce as high-speed train drivers on the Haramain high speed railway, a service opened in 2018 that connects the cities of Medina and Mecca and which in 2023 transported approximately 7 million passengers.
International training
The first drivers for Saudi Arabia’s high-speed trains received their training between 2013 and 2014 at Renfe’s Technical Professional School of Driving and Operations in Madrid, imparted by Spanish trainers. Since then, Renfe has led an international train driver training project, with all drivers having completed the course. The training initiative for this project was recently expanded following an agreement with Saudi Railway Politechnic (SRP) to provide theoretical training at its facilities.
In addition, Renfe’s subsidiary in Saudi Arabia has recruited and trained more than 800 Saudis for the Commercial Services (at stations and on board), Sales and Operations departments, in addition to participating in the process of including Saudi staff in teams responsible for business management.
In fact, on 10 December, Renfe received, recognition from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through the Minister of Transport and the Governor of the Qassim region (where the SRP is located), for its commitment to this project to educate and train local railway professionals. This represents the second time Renfe has received this accolade, with the Kingdom highlighting the company’s “leadership in the process of Saudisation of the railway industry”.
“SRP’s partnership with Renfe has been of great value, directly contributing to the goals of Vision 2030 and resulting in training being imparted to young Saudi citizens to contribute to the management, operation and maintenance of the Saudi railway industry,” stated the Saudi authorities as part of this recognition.
Women train drivers
In 2022, Renfe began training 32 Saudi women to become train drivers for the Haramain high-speed train.
After 1,200 hours of theory and practice, the first applicants obtained their driving license in December 2022 and were assigned as commercial train operators for the first time in history of a high-speed train in the Middle East.
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