Editing Transport in Saudi Arabia (section)

=== History and overview ===
[[File:Ferrocarril del hiyaz EN.PNG|thumb|Map of the historic Hejaz railway|245x245px]]
The first railway line in the kingdom predates the [[unification of Saudi Arabia]]. The 1,050&nbsp;mm (3&nbsp;ft 5<sup>11</sup>⁄<sub>32</sub> in) narrow-gauge [[Hejaz railway]], that ran from [[Damascus]] to [[Medina]], began construction in 1900 under the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Hejaz Vilayet]], and was completed in 1908. A proposal to further extend the line to [[Mecca]] was made, but was never materialized. The southern portion of the line was mostly destroyed during the [[First World War]]. A few sections of the track remain, with some sections in Jordan being used up to today. The stations in [[Hegra (Mada'in Salih)|Mada'in Salih]] and [[Medina]] have been converted into museums ([[Hejaz Railway Museum]] and Mada'in Salih Railway Station), each having some locomotives and rolling stock from the original railway.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Railways in Saudi Arabia|url=https://www.sinfin.net/railways/world/saudi.html|access-date=2020-08-19|website=www.sinfin.net}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/286628|title=Move Under Way To Restore Madain Saleh Railway Station|date=June 22, 2006|website=[[Arab News]]}}</ref>

The first railway line built and completed under Saudi rule was the {{Cvt|569|km||abbr=}} [[Dammam–Riyadh line|Dammam-Riyadh line]], which began construction in 1947. It was inaugurated on October 20, 1951, by [[King Abdulaziz]]. This was before the formation of the [[Saudi Railways Organization]] (SRO), and the railway line was run and maintained by [[Saudi Aramco]], before being entrusted to the [[Ministry of Finance (Saudi Arabia)|Ministry of Finance.]] On May 13, 1966, a royal decree established the SRO, a public corporation that now runs the line. The main railway stations for passengers opened in Riyadh, Dammam, and Hofuf in 1981. The modern passenger line between Riyadh and Dammam measuring {{Cvt|449|km||abbr=}} was completed in 1985.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-09-20|title=Saudi railways approach 67th anniversary, play large role in linking cities|url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1375306/saudi-arabia|access-date=2020-08-19|website=Arab News|language=en}}</ref>

The other conventional railway line in the kingdom is the [[SAR North–South Railway line|North–South line]], also known as the [[SAR Riyadh-Qurayyat line|Riyadh-Qurayyat line]], which runs from the capital [[Riyadh]] to border with [[Jordan]] at [[Al-Haditha, Saudi Arabia|Hadithah]] via [[Buraidah]], [[Ha'il]] and [[Qurayyat, Saudi Arabia|Qurayyat]], with feeder lines to multiple [[phosphate mining]] and [[Bauxite|bauxite mining]] locations in the northern parts of the kingdom. The largest feeder line connects the main line to the port city of [[Ras Al-Khair|Ra's Al-Khair]], near [[Jubail]], giving the line a total length of more than {{Cvt|2750|km||abbr=}}. The only high-speed railway line in the kingdom, the [[Haramain high-speed railway|Haramain high-speed railway line]], was completed in 2017, and connects the two Islamic holy cities of [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]] via the [[King Abdulaziz International Airport]] in [[Jeddah]] and the [[King Abdullah Economic City]] near [[Rabigh]].<ref name=":1" />