Plans underway for monorail to link Makkah’s holy sites
04/04/2007
Plans are underway to connect Saudi Arabia’s holy sites by monorail to facilitate transportation for Hajj pilgrims, the
Arab News reported today. The $1.9 billion project involves building monorails in Makkah, Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat.
A monorail is a single rail, generally elevated, that is used as a track for passenger or freight vehicles. A key advantage is that monorails do not obstruct traffic on the ground, and they are environmentally-friendly. The monorail proposed for the Makkah-area project would have four to eight carriages and can transport 20,000 passengers an hour – nearly 800,000 pilgrims during the Hajj. The project also includes parking facilities so that pilgrims can park their cars at the entrance of Makkah and then board the monorail.
The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), the Ministry of Transport and the Higher Commission for the Development of Makkah and Madinah have all reviewed a study of the project and welcome it. The study was prepared by the International Transport Projects Company, which is now contacting Saudi authorities to obtain the appropriate license to implement the project.
The Makkah-area monorail is expected to be completed in four years. A similar project is under consideration for Madinah.
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Monorail in holy sites by 2010
06/06/2008
MAKKAH: Haj pilgrims traveling between Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa may be able to take advantage of the proposed monorail project by 2010, a local newspaper reported yesterday. Nine international companies have been invited to bid for the SR5-billion project.
Dr. Habib Zainul Abideen, undersecretary for development projects at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, said the winning company would be announced before September.
He added that work would start before Haj this year to ensure the project’s completion in 18 months.
Zainul Abideen said that a French consultancy is finalizing details and designs of the project, which will be duly provided to the bidding companies. He said that the train would run at heights of between eight to 10 meters in order not to obstruct the movement of vehicles and pedestrians on the ground.
Residents of Makkah will be able to use the monorail to perform the stoning ritual in Mina, he added.
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Work on SR20bn Makkah monorail to begin after Haj
P. K. Abdul Ghafour | Arab News
JEDDAH: Work on the first phase of an SR20 billion Makkah monorail project will start in December soon after the Haj season to facilitate transportation of pilgrims between the holy sites of Makkah, Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa. The project is designed to transport five million pilgrims.
“An agreement will be signed with the winner of the contract to implement the project soon after Haj,” said Dr. Habeeb Zain Al-Abidine, deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs and secretary-general of the Commission for Development of Makkah, Madinah and the Holy Sites. Five specialized international companies, which were short-listed from 10, are competing for the multibillion dollar project, he said, adding that a meeting chaired by Prince Miteb, minister of municipal and rural affairs and chairman of the commission, would be held tomorrow to open their tenders.
Zain Al-Abidine said a feasibility study conducted by an international company had proposed five monorails linking the holy sites. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has given his approval to the project that will ease transportation of more than three million pilgrims between the holy sites.
“The feasibility study suggested the second monorail be built two to three years after the construction of the first one,” he said, adding that a single monorail would cost SR4 billion. The first monorail beginning from Mina will transport nearly one million pilgrims including 360,000 Arab pilgrims.
Monorail, which is a single rail serving as the track for a wheeled or (magnetically) levitating vehicle, has been rapidly paving its way as a modern urban transit system, providing the most-sought-after transportation solutions for a built-up congested city. The Makkah monorails will be 8 to 10 meters above the ground to ensure smooth flow of pedestrians and vehicles.
Zain Al-Abidine said the implementation of the project in the holy sites would help withdraw 25,000 buses from a total of 70,000 used by domestic pilgrims as well as pilgrims who come by land from neighboring countries. He said the system would help transport at least 500,000 pilgrims within six to eight hours.
According to the present study, monorails will have a station west of the stoning area in Mina in order to transport pilgrims to the second and fourth levels of the high-tech Jamrat Bridge.