CAF and Saudi Railway Company (SAR) are to begin testing the next-generation, push-pull trains for Saudi Arabia’s North-South line.
In 2012, SAR placed an order with the Spanish manufacturer for five diesel trainsets to operate passenger services on the North-South rail line – a 2,750-kilometre mixed-traffic railway stretching from Riyadh to Al Haditha near the Jordanian border, via Hail and Qurayyat.
The line, which also includes a second spur from the Al-Jalamid mine to Ras AlKhair on the coast of the Arabian Gulf, is already open to freight traffic and passenger services are scheduled to begin this year.
The new bi-directional trains are based on the locomotives currently being operated by Saudi Railways (SRO). SAR will operate the trains as nine-car services in the day and 13-car services at night. Each unit includes dining cars, sleepers cars and prayer areas.
Capable of operating speeds of 200 km/h, the trains are designed to cope with temperatures of up to 55 degrees celsius.
