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Saudi Railways Organization

The Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) () was a state-owned railway company that operated part of Saudi Arabia's rail network, along with the Saudi Railway Company (now Saudi Arabia Railways). The SRO operated a network of railways with a total length of approximately . The network consisted of two main lines. A passenger line that links Dammam with Riyadh, and a freight line that connects the King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam with Riyadh.

There are plans to extend the network to the Red Sea port of Jeddah and, eventually, to the borders of Jordan, Yemen, and perhaps all the way to Egypt.

Approval to merge the Saudi Railways Organization and the Saudi Railway Company was announced in February 2021. The merger took place on 1 April 2021, and the merged entity is now known as Saudi Arabia Railways.

Rolling stock

Spanish manufacturer CAF delivered eight fast diesel locomotives in 2012, with one driving van trailer passenger car and four other passenger cars, with a leading power car unit, plus two spare power cars. They are used on the Dammam–Riyadh Line. In 2013, the travel time was 4:15, but the target is 3:00 for the future.

Trainsets

Diesel Locomotives

Expansion

The SRO has several plans to expand the network as part of the Saudi Railway Master Plan 2010-2040 (SRMP). Some of the projects under the plan are:

  • Saudi Landbridge: The Landbridge project aims to connect the Red Sea with the Persian Gulf. It will involve the construction of a line from Jeddah Islamic Port to Riyadh, and a line from Dammam to Jubail.
  • North-South line
  • The Gulf Railway project is a proposed railway network of linking all GCC countries. The length of the track inside Saudi Arabia would be .
  • The SRO also has plans to construct three lines in southern Saudi Arabia to improve the region's connectivity with the rest of the country. The lines are the Taif-Khamis Mushayt–Abha line (), the Jeddah-Jizan line (), and the Yanbu–Jeddah line ().

See also

References