Riyadh eyes massive new railway station by 2013

A new railway station is to be built in Riyadh with the capacity to handle 800,000 commuters a year, it was reported on Tuesday.

The Saudi Railway Company (SAR) said the station would be ready by 2013 after tenders are issued at the end of this year, Arab News reported.

"The proposed station with the latest facilities will be built on an area of 50,000 square metres near King Khaled International Airport," SAR executive chairman Rumaih bin Muhammad Al-Rumaih said in comments published in the paper.

The new railway station would be the terminus for a proposed 1,000km route that will cover cities including Riyadh, Qassim, Hail, Al-Jouf and Al-Haditha at the Jordanian border.

High-speed trains running at up to 200kmph will be deployed as part of the service, Al-Rumaih told the paper.

He said that the entire rail project, which includes separate services for transporting minerals and passengers, will cost SR16bn and will create more than 3,000 jobs.