Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh will be connected by rail to the western coastal city of Jeddah, the Saudi press agency reported on Wednesday, citing a statement from the country’s minister of transport Saleh Al-Jasser.
The railway will link Jeddah on the Red Sea coast with the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The existing 450-km line between Riyadh and Dammam will be upgraded, and a new 115-km line is planned to link Dammam with Jubail on the Arabian Gulf.
According to the media reports, the railway project linking Jeddah to Riyadh is expected to cost 5,000 crore riyals.
The Saleh Al-Jasser announced that this project is part of the national strategy for transport and logistics.
As part of the royal attempts to achieve Vision 2030, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched a national strategy for transport and logistics.
As part of the strategy, the ministry of transport will be renamed the ministry of transport and logistics.
The strategy seeks to improve the services of all means of transportation, enhance integration in the logistics system, and modern modes of transportation to support the comprehensive development process in the Kingdom.
Al-Jasser stated, one of the main objectives of the strategy is to advance the contribution of the transport and logistics sector in the national GDP to 10 percent instead of about six percent at present.
The minister also indicated that the Kingdom is among the top six countries in the world in the road quality index while maintaining the Kingdom’s global leadership in road network interconnection.