There is an upgrade ongoing to replace level crossings with grade separations, and to bypass of the centre city of Hofuf. This shall allow 200 km/h speed. In 2014, the SRO awarded a contract worth US $1.6 million to a consortium led by Spanish firm Consultrans to study alignments for a high-speed line linking Riyadh and Dammam. In December 2015, the SRO President stated that the speed of trains on the line would be raised from 140 km/h to 160 km/h before the end of the year, and would further be increased to 180 km/h in 2016. On 7 December 2015, SRO began operating passenger services on the line using new CAF push-pull trainsets which operate at 180 km/h. The trains entered service just as the SRO had completed double-tracking of the entire 449 km line. On 17 February 2017 at about 1:00 am, a train on the line derailed near Dammam, injuring 18 people, after flooding from torrential rains caused the rail line to erode. The train was carrying 193 passengers and six crew members. SRO stated that all injuries were minor. All passengers were transferred to another train and transported to Dammam station. The line was closed for repair following the accident, and SRO suspended all rail services to Dammam. Services were only operated between Riyadh and Hofuf. Full services were resume by 23 February 2017.
Stations
The stations at Dammam, Hufuf and Riyadh were designed by Lucio Barbera and designed and built between 1978 and 1980. They were opened for public service in 1981. The terminus stations in Dammam and Riyadh are extremely similar and consist of a rectangular hall of three naves separated by two lines of pillars along the ends of the tracks and two wings at the ends of the main hall along the outer tracks. The design is based on the layout of some mosques along the Mediterranean Sea, where the prayer hall is located at one side of a court with lesser wings along the sides of the court. The style and decoration of the buildings uses elements such as triangular openings to construct windows and arcades and parapets with rectangular steps, elements bearing a resemblance to Nejd architecture but also common in other Arab architecture. The station building in Hufuf lies to the east of the through line along one side. The decoration is very similar to the stations in Dammam and Riyadh. There are four stations on the Dammam–Riyadh line:
#
Station name
Station name
Distance from origin
#
English
Arabic
Distance from origin
1
Dammam
الدمام
0 km
2
Abqaiq
بقيق
74 km
3
Hofuf
الهفوف
139.26 km
4
Riyadh
الرياض
449 km
Infrastructure
Rolling stock
The SRO's fleet consists of 102 diesel locomotives and 75 passenger cars. These are classified into 12 cars of Al-Rehab class with a capacity of 540 seats, 9 cars of Al-Taleaa class with a capacity of 652 seats, 25 cars of Al-Qafila class with a capacity of 2,012 seats along with 2 special-class cars, 8 diner cars, 12 luggage and power generation cars and 1 car that has been specially fitted as an ambulance car to enhance safety. Spanish manufacturer CAF has in delivered 2012 delivered eight fast diesel locomotives, with one driving van trailerpassenger car and four other passenger cars, with a leading power car unit; plus two spare power cars. They are used on the Dammam–Riyadh Line. During 2013 the travel time is 4:15 but there is a target of 3:00 for the future.
Tracks
The rails on the line are of the type C.W.R UIC 60.
Signaling system
In 2007, the SRO contracted a consortium made up of Siemens Transportation Systems and the Saudi Arabian Nour Communications Company to modernize both the Dammam–Riyadh line and the cargo line of SRO rail network. The line will be equipped with signalling technology including an electronic interlocking as core of the installation and Trainguard 100 for ETCS Level 1. GSM-Railway mobile radio technology will be used for communications on the entire rail network.
Operations
The total journey time is about 4.5 hours. From 1 June 2016, SRO began operating an express train that covered the distance between Riyadh and Dammam in 3 hours 40 minutes. The train departs from Dammam at 9:30AM and from Riyadh at 1:10 PM daily.
