The route
The railway links Makkah and Madinah by way of Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh, over 450 km of electrified line. Makkah station stands about 3 km from the Grand Mosque in al-Rusaifa, and Madinah station about 7 km from the Prophet's Mosque, in Knowledge Economic City.
Jeddah has two stations, in al-Sulaymaniyah and at King Abdulaziz International Airport, and the fifth stands at the entrance to King Abdullah Economic City. The journey from Makkah to Madinah takes two hours and forty-five minutes.
Trains and stations
Construction began in 2009 at a cost of SAR 60 billion, funded by the Public Investment Fund with the private sector, and commercial trips began in 2018. Thirty-five trains, each of thirteen coaches and 417 seats, give a capacity of 160,000 passengers a day and sixty million a year.
The stations share metal, tree-like structures and domed roofs that open to let in daylight, each with its own colour: gold for Makkah, green for Madinah and silver for Jeddah's city station.