Renfe takes part in Saudi International Rail, the international gathering on rail mobility, held in Riyadh from 19 to 20 October, which brings together over 250 key industry players. During his participation in the panel on “The Future of Rolling Stock and the Digital Innovations Driving Smart Railways”, the company’s president, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, highlighted the outstanding operational performance of the Haramain High-Speed Railway project, as a clear success story in the development of major mobility initiatives.
Renfe leads the consortium operating this pioneering high-speed rail service in Saudi Arabia, considered one of the most successful in the world and a key corridor in the country’s transport transformation. The company handles much of the management and operations, including service planning, train operation, ticket sales and customer service, among other functions.
The Haramain Railway connects the cities of Mecca and Medina, with intermediate stops in Jeddah, KAIA (King Abdulaziz International Airport), and KAEC (King Abdullah Economic City), covering 453 km of track with maximum speed of 300 km/hour. The full journey takes just over 2 hours (around 30 minutes longer if trains stop at all stations) and is primarily designed to transport of millions of pilgrims and residents between these key locations.
Since its commercial launch in October 2018, this high-speed service has expanded both in scale and operational efficiency, reaching 29.2 million passengers (with a 20% year-on-year growth) and maintaining an average on-time rate above 96%.
At Saudi Rail, Renfe's president showcased these and other performance indicators of the Haramain High-Speed Railway, underscoring it as a clear success story. Over the past twelve months, production has increased to 10.8 million train-kilometres, and the on-time rate has reached 97% during the same period (measured within a 5-minute margin). Cancellations are negligible (70,000 journeys were completed without any cancellations), and customer satisfaction indicators remain very high.
Operations undergo testing during mass-mobility campaigns, which take place several times a year. The most recent, conducted in March during the Ramadan period, saw the transport of 1.35 million passengers (a 40% increase over the previous year), 3,410 journeys, and days when up to 132 high-speed trains were in service. The average on-time rate for the entire campaign was 98.5% (measured within a maximum delay of 5 minutes), with no cancellations recorded.
The future of Saudi mobility
Renfe's president also emphasised the social impact of the project, resulting from a comprehensive transfer of knowledge: over 95% of Renfe’s staff in Saudi Arabia are Saudi nationals, including 100% of train drivers, and 35% of the workforce are women. Renfe led a training and employment initiative for more than 1,000 people, including the first female train drivers in the Middle East, who now represent one-third of this group’s workforce.
Saudi Rail also saw the participation of Inmaculada Gutiérrez, General Manager of Renfe Proyectos Internacionales, and Armando Fombella, Haramain Project Director. Renfe reaffirmed its commitment to continue partnering with Saudi Arabia Railways and the Kingdom's authorities on new initiatives aligned with Vision 2030, the country’s ambitious economic and social transformation plan, where transport plays a pivotal role.