The Saudi Gazette reported that 4.5 kilometers dual track Light Rail service with a load capacity of 60,000 passengers per hour has been approved to ease traffic congestion in Makkah.

Mr Munir Hasan Abbas Sindi GM of Doroob Company said that the light train will run all year from Shesha to Ghazza.

Called Darb Al-Mashair, the gigantic SAR 7.5 billion project includes development of a 1,185,000 square kilometers area from Bin Dawood Shesha to Pedestrian Street leading to Mina.

To be developed by 2012 for multipurpose use, including the Light Rail service, the zone will have two 50 story buildings covering 150,000 square meters a domed shopping mall of 278,000 square meters, a 292,000 square meters area for hotels and 293,000 square meters for car parking.

Mr Sindi said that train stations will be built at Shesha and Ghazza, covering 37,000 square meters and facing the Holy Mosque. The track will be fenced off and pass through pedestrian tunnels. For an uninterrupted stretch of the track, bridges will be built for the rail line to pass over roads. He said that the project includes two way electrically operated beltways, known as travelators, running up to the doors of the Holy Mosque.

Darb Al-Mashair project has been approved by the Supreme Council for the Development for the Two Holy Cities and Makkah Mayor Osama Fadl Al-Bar, with the consent of Makkah Emir Prince Khaled Al-Faisal.

To be executed in partnership of the Makkah Municipal Corporation, the project is the fruition of the civil authorities' endeavors to engage the private sector in addressing the growing traffic problem in the holy city.

(Sourced from the Saudi Gazette)