Saudi Railways Organization

The idea of constructing a railway line in Saudi Arabia was first introduced in the mid-sixties of the Hijra calendar, when a need was felt for a port on the eastern sea-shore of the Kingdom to handle goods dispatched to Aramco Petroleum Company. Such goods had to be conveyed inland from the port to the warehouses of in Dhahran.

The idea of constructing such a railway line was presented to the late King Abdel Aziz Al Saud (God’s mercy be upon him) who gave his assent to the project and instructed that the line should extend up to Riyadh.

Construction work commenced on 26/11/1366 A.H. (October 1947), and on 19/1/1371 A.H. (20/10/1951) the line was officially inaugurated by His Majesty, the King. At first, the railway line continued to be run by Aramco Co., but it


was subsequently entrusted to the Ministry of Finance, at which time it was known as the Railway Department. On 22/1/1368 A.H., a Royal Decree No. 2/3 was issued which created the railway authority as a public corporation Organization having a legal status with rights and duties just as a natural person. A Board of Directors was appointed to lead the CorporationOrganization on commercial principles. The decree also specified the objectives, the assets and the powers of the Corporation,Organization, as well as the terms of reference of the Board and its President during the reign of His Majesty, the Custodian of the Two holy Mosques, a number of development projects have been completed. Some of these projects are as follows:
Construction of a direct railway line from Dammam to Riyadh - with a total length of 499 k.m.
Construction of 3 modern passenger stations in Dammam, Hofuf and Riyadh.
Establishment at Dammam of a fully-equipped central maintenance workshop at Dammam.
Construction inauguration and operation of a Dry Port in Riyadh, which may be regarded as one of the most important achievements of the corporation during the recent years. The availability of this service in Riyadh has greatly facilitated import and clearance by Customs, of goods which arrive from abroad directly to the importers in Riyadh.

Saudi Railways Organization
P.O. Box 36, Dammam 31241, Saudi Arabia

phone: (+966) 3 871 300
email: info@saudirailways.org
web: www.saudirailways.org

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