Haramain railway main station in Makkah to cost SR3.2bn

April 9, 2012

Makkah, April 9: The Haramain Railway’s main station in Makkah will cost SR3.2 billion, Transport Minister Jabara Al-Seraisry said yesterday after inspecting the progress of work at the station.

He said real estate property valued at more than SR600 million have been appropriated for the high-speed railway project linking the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah.

The minister was given a presentation on the project and its various phases. “The project is progressing well in accordance with the plan, despite the difficulties in the land acquisition process,” he said.

“Our intention is to carry out this vital project without causing any harm to residents,” Al-Seraisry said.

The high-speed rail link will be completed in 2014 when passenger trains start running.

The main station in Makkah will be ready before that.

The minister said real estate owners would be given compensation for land and buildings if they posses valid deeds. “If they don’t have any deeds, the compensation will be only for the demolished buildings,” he added.

However, he emphasized all real estate owners would get suitable compensation. He said the ministry would ensure the project is of high quality.

Last month, Al-Seraisry inspected the railway station on King Abdul Aziz Street in Madinah.

Apart from the five stations originally planned for Jeddah city, King Abdul Aziz International Airport, King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh, Makkah and Madinah, the railway will have an additional one at Abyar Ali in Madinah.

Crown Prince Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, ordered Abyar Ali station because it is the location where many pilgrims change into their ihram before heading to Makkah for Haj or Umrah.

The government signed recently a SR30.815 billion contract with a Saudi-Spanish consortium for implementing Phase II of the project. When completed, the railway will represent a quantum leap in the Kingdom’s transport sector.

The final phase of the project include construction of railway tracks, installation of signals, telecommunications, electrification system, operational control center, procurement and manufacture of rolling stock, and maintenance of rolling stock and the entire infrastructure for a period of 12 years.

The Makkah-Madinah rail link is part of the major railway expansion project, which includes linking Jeddah with Riyadh and Dammam. The Haramain Railway is expected to carry more than 150,000 passengers daily during peak seasons, such as Haj and Umrah.

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Yemeni armed forces shoot down US MQ-9 drone, strike British oil tanker in retaliation

News Network

April 27,2024

The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces has said it has carried out new operations against American and British targets in retaliation for their aggression on the country.

Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Friday that Yemen’s naval forces struck a British oil tanker in the Red Sea with missiles.

Saree also said the military also shot down an American MQ-9 drone in Sa’ada province.

He added that the new operations were also a show of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, amid the Israeli genocide there.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces salute all the people of Yemen for their faithful response to the call of the fighter leader Sayyed Abdulmalik Badr El-Din Al-Houthi, may Allah protect him, in their unprecedented large-scale interaction in support of our oppressed brothers in the Gaza Strip, affirming support for the Armed Forces in their military operations against the ‘Israeli’ enemy and against the American-British aggression supporting it in the Red and Arabian Seas and the Indian Ocean,” Saree said.

He stressed that the Yemeni armed forces will continue operations in the Red and Arabian Seas as well as the Indian Ocean until the Western-backed Israeli genocide comes to a halt.

Since the start of the brutal campaign in Gaza, the regime has killed more than 34,300 Palestinians and injured over 77,000 others. It has cut off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

The Yemeni Armed Forces have been targeting Israeli vessels or those “associated” with the occupying regime in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea since October 7, 2023.

The regime ignited its bloody war machine in the besieged Palestinian territory on that October day in response to Operation Al-Aqsa Storm conducted by the resistance movement Hamas.

The maritime attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.

Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing around the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.

The pro-Palestine maritime campaign has also prompted airstrikes by the US and its allies on Yemen – in violation of the Yemeni sovereignty and international law.

In consequence, Yemen’s armed forces have declared US and British vessels as legitimate targets.

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