SAUDI Arabia’s new Mashair Railway, which links the holy sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa with Makkah, is undergoing a 30-day trial before it is inaugurated for the upcoming Haj pilgrimage season.

Built at a cost of SR6.5 billion ($1.73 billion) and also known as the Makkah Metro, the new railway will transport as many as 72,000 pilgrims in an hour.

A total of nine stations have been built in the first phase, with Arafat, Mina and Muzdalifa each having three stations.

Deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs Habib Zain Al Abidine said the metro would have ten 300-m-long trains in the first phase, each capable of carrying 3,000 passengers. Under the second phase of the project, the railway will link up with the Grand Mosque in Makkah through a station on Umm Al Qura Road.

The metro will also be linked with the high-speed Haramain Railway, which connects Makkah with Madinah and Jeddah.

The railway will have as many as 20 trains in the second phase, each with 12 carriages. Each carriage will have a capacity for 250 passengers, with about 20 per cent seated and rest standing. The trains will run at speeds of 80 to 120 kmph and the railway will operate throughout the year.