Tourism & Hospitality | Wednesday 14 September, 2016 1:48 pm |

Twenty seven of the 104 Mashaer Train drivers are young Saudis who undertook intensive courses abroad.

All the Saudis are under 30.

The first train took off with a young Saudi driving the train, Al-Hayat daily reported. This is the first time Saudi drivers are participating in the Haj operations, according to Hesham Al-Madani, an engineer in charge of Mashaer Train.

“We have designed a plan to avoid repetition of our earlier mistakes. We ran several tests on the train for two full months and ensured that everything was working fine, and even increased the number of trains.
Besides, the number of staff inside the stations was increased and one security guide stood near each gate to maximize security and control as well as organize the crowds,” Al-Madani explained.

The number of trains used depends on traffic level and destination of pilgrims, he said, noting that the rates of tickets remained unchanged.
Mashaer Train is run by temporary and permanent staff members, with young Saudis constituting a good percentage that meets the Ministry of Labor and Social Development’s requirements. People who speak Urdu and English are hired every year to organize crowds at the gates.

The Commission of Makkah and Holy Sites Development introduced an app showing the stages and times of train trips from and to the Holy Sites, which aims to manage crowds and sends out SMS messages to pilgrims warning them about potential crowded spots.

Each car of Mashaer Train is 25 meters long and each trip takes few minutes. It has greatly reduced the time pilgrims take to move from one destination to another. The trip from Arafat to Mina takes 12 minutes, Arafat to Muzdalifah seven minutes and from Muzdalifah to Mina nine minutes.

The railway runs 18.2 km and the first trip took off in 2010. The implementation of the project took 16 months and the project itself has proved to be successful over the past four years as it facilitates the movement of pilgrims and organizes their movement.

There are nine stations in the three Holy Sites and all have escalators and e-gates equipped with sensors that recognize the train tickets. Waiting areas at the stations can accommodate over 3,000 pilgrims.