Good News for 2010 Hajj Program…Monorail to Serve Pilgrims
The Saudi Arabian authorities are working relentlessly on the construction of a Metro project to transport over 70,000 pilgrims in an hour between the holy sites of Makkah, Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa during the peak days of Hajj, local tabloids in Saudi Arabia reported this week.
The daily Arab News quoted the President of the Saudi Railway Organization (SRO), Abdul Aziz Al-Hoqail, to have said that the “first phase of the Makkah Monorail project is expected to be completed before this year’s Hajj. This will enable Hajj pilgrims to use 35 percent of train service.”
The entire train system, the SRO Chief added, including stations, will be elevated and pilgrims will have access to escalators and staircases to reach it. “Each of the five lines of the monorail project will have an hourly capacity to carry 60,000 to 80,000 passengers between Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah, and later between Mina and Makkah. All trains will have 12 large compartments, each of which will be 23 meters long and 3 meters wide,” said the Chief Executive of this project.
The project, covering 18 km, the report noted, is in the final stages of construction. “Thirty-five percent of its capacity would be used during this year’s Hajj season. It will have 20 trains next year when it operates within full capacity. Each train will have 12 carriages,” Hoqail reiterated. Â
The project, he said, includes construction of nine railway stations in Arafat, Mina and Muzdalifa, each 300 meters long. “One station will be located near the Jamarat Bridge in Mina where the stoning ritual takes place. Pilgrims will be able to board the train from the bridge’s fourth floor, “he concluded.
Experts say, the quality of the project is “very impressive”. “It has French, Canadian and German technology. The railway project would bring about remarkable improvements in the transportation of pilgrims between the holy sites,” adding, this would mean that more than 50,000 cars and buses that carry pilgrims between Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina would no longer be required.
Meanwhile, Sierra Leoneans have joined thousands of Africans resident in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to welcome this latest news which many say, “would help in the prevention of deadly stampedes of previous years.”
“Hajj” or Muslim pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, which every adult Muslim must undertake at least once in their life if they can afford it and are physically able.
Every year, according to the Saudi Hajj Ministry, over two million Muslims converge on Mecca – the holiest place in Islam – to take part in an event which combines piety and passion.
Alhaji M.B. Jalloh, Information Attaché, Sierra Leone Embassy, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaStay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!
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Ishmael Koroma
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I think the author here is quite right. Monorail, according to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, is combining form (in nouns and adjectives)one;single:monorail.
23rd June 2010Kim Pedersen
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The Makkah ‘Monorail’ is NOT a monorail, it is conventional rail. Mono=ONE. It is obvious there are two rails on this system. Would you call an airplane a ‘boat’? No. Would you call a man a ‘woman’? No. Would you call Muslims ‘Christians’? No. Please don’t refer to the Makkah Rail System as a monorail then. Thanks kindly.
22nd June 2010