Daijiworld Media Community – Riyadh
Riyadh, Oct 18: Saudi Arabia is quickly advancing its bold railway enlargement below Imaginative and prescient 2030, with plans to increase its rail community from 5,300 km to over 8,000 km within the coming years. The initiative goals to spice up financial progress, strengthen logistics, and remodel the dominion right into a key regional transport hub.
On the coronary heart of this plan lies the $7 billion Landbridge Mission — a 1,500-km railway hall connecting Jeddah on the Purple Coastline to Dammam on the Arabian Gulf via Riyadh. As soon as accomplished, the hall will cut back journey time between Jeddah and Riyadh from 12 hours to below 4. It’s going to function a brand new 900-km rail hyperlink, upgrades to the Riyadh-Dammam line, and the creation of seven logistics hubs to help freight motion throughout the nation.
Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) has already awarded main contracts, with design work progressing steadily. The Landbridge will even join King Abdullah Port and key industrial facilities like Yanbu, establishing an environment friendly spine for freight between ports and cities.
In parallel, SAR is modernizing its passenger fleet with 15 new high-speed trainsets able to operating at 200 km/h, designed to endure Saudi Arabia’s excessive temperatures. Among the many upcoming points of interest is the “Dream of the Desert” luxurious prepare, anticipated to launch by the top of 2025, providing an 800-mile scenic journey from Riyadh to Al Qurayyat via pure reserves and heritage websites.
The modernization drive additionally contains the introduction of hydrogen-powered trains, sensible signaling methods, and digital security controls. With over 2.6 million passengers touring inter-city by rail within the second quarter of 2025 alone, Saudi Arabia’s prepare community is quick changing into a most well-liked mode of transport.
Regionally, Saudi Arabia continues to play a number one function within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Railway initiative, which goals to attach all six Gulf international locations by rail. The latest approval of Qatar’s cross-border hyperlink with Saudi Arabia marks one other step towards regional integration and seamless freight connectivity throughout the Arabian Peninsula.
By 2030, the dominion envisions a contemporary, sustainable, and high-speed rail community connecting its ports, cities, and neighboring international locations—cementing Saudi Arabia’s place as a transport and logistics powerhouse within the Center East.
