SAUDI Railway Company (SAR) saw a 139% increase in the number of passengers on its trains during the second quarter of 2018 compared with the same period last year with an extra 46,000 passengers using the North-South Railway between Riyadh and Hail.

OPERATIONAL testing began on the Riyadh metro network on April 4, when a two-car Alstom Metropolis train for the Purple Line (Line 6) ran under its own power.

The Saudi capital is making rapid progress with its $US 23bn project to build six metro lines by the end of the decade, with construction reaching 50% completion in early 2017. Keith Barrow looks at this mammoth project and its potential impact on this rapidly-growing city.

ALSTOM has successfully handed over the first of 69 driverless metro trains it is delivering to Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) for use on lines 4, 5 and 6 of the Saudi capital’s metro network.