MECCA l U/C l Al-Masha'er Metro Project.

[thefreestyler]

Work on SR20bn Makkah monorail to begin after Hajj

JEDDAH: Work on the first phase of an SR20 billion Makkah monorail project will start in December soon after the Haj season to facilitate transportation of pilgrims between the holy sites of Makkah, Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa. The project is designed to transport five million pilgrims.

“An agreement will be signed with the winner of the contract to implement the project soon after Haj,” said Dr. Habeeb Zain Al-Abidine, deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs and secretary-general of the Commission for Development of Makkah, Madinah and the Holy Sites. Five specialized international companies, which were short-listed from 10, are competing for the multibillion dollar project, he said, adding that a meeting chaired by Prince Miteb, minister of municipal and rural affairs and chairman of the commission, would be held tomorrow to open their tenders.

Zain Al-Abidine said a feasibility study conducted by an international company had proposed five monorails linking the holy sites. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has given his approval to the project that will ease transportation of more than three million pilgrims between the holy sites.

“The feasibility study suggested the second monorail be built two to three years after the construction of the first one,” he said, adding that a single monorail would cost SR4 billion. The first monorail beginning from Mina will transport nearly one million pilgrims including 360,000 Arab pilgrims.

Monorail, which is a single rail serving as the track for a wheeled or (magnetically) levitating vehicle, has been rapidly paving its way as a modern urban transit system, providing the most-sought-after transportation solutions for a built-up congested city.The Makkah monorails will be 8 to 10 meters above the ground to ensure smooth flow of pedestrians and vehicles.

Zain Al-Abidine said the implementation of the project in the holy sites would help withdraw 25,000 buses from a total of 70,000 used by domestic pilgrims as well as pilgrims who come by land from neighboring countries. He said the system would help transport at least 500,000 pilgrims within six to eight hours.

According to the present study, monorails will have a station west of the stoning area in Mina in order to transport pilgrims to the second and fourth levels of the high-tech Jamrat Bridge.

[MTF]

Good news!

[womfalcs3]

Yeah. Just saw this on Arab News. I'm excited about it.

[Halawala]

This is excellent! My great-grandmother used to tell me that she used to go to the Hajj by Camels like 100 years ago, and now we see something like this in Makkah just makes me proud to be a Muslim! excellent news

[Saudi guy]

i remember read this 3 weeks ago on newspaper,i can't imagine see it front of my eyes!

[thefreestyler]

yeah me too.

[cattivo]

great news!

we are expecting this for a long time.
with the monorail, this could ease the traffic congested during Hajj and Ramadhan in futre.

[thefreestyler]

do any one knw the maximum speed of a monorail...........???????

[MTF]

Originally Posted by cattivo

great news!

we are expecting this for a long time.
with the monorail, this could ease the traffic congested during Hajj and Ramadhan in futre.

Its only for Hajj.

[Sdare]

do any one knw the maximum speed of a monorail...........???????

usually slow

[jh1]

Originally Posted by MTF

Its only for Hajj.

yeah .. TIHS one is only for Hajj , however , I'm pretty sure
that there will be another monorail for the central area of Makkah
which will be huge project cuz Makkah really need it

[cattivo]

they should build the monorail for double usage etc. Hajj & non-Hajj season.

especially if they can build a monorail line from the Umra' Mosque to Masjidil al-Haram.
and even during non-Hajj, people will move around to visit Mina, Mudzalifa, Arafah and etc.

[MTF]

But it wont be that cost effective in non-hajj season.The main reason to build the monorail is to ease congestion during hajj season.

[gohorns]

how about also using the monorails to connect the different parking areas outside the city? That would eliminate the use of buses and taxi cabs. It would also be more efficient. Some airports in the US have monorails connecting airport terminals and they also connect rental car areas...so you could drop off your rental car and take the monorail to the terminal. This would be a similar scenario.

[Sdare]

btw, is it under construction now as the title tells!!!!!!!!!!

[Mesch]

This really makes me happy and thrilled.. But why for Hajj only?? I hope it's just a starter

[cattivo]

with more developments etc. Jabal Omar, Al-Shamiyah, Makkah West Gate, they really need to look into the connectivity between those projects for non-Hajj season.

plus, at least with better monorail connection in the Makkah city, people don't have to rush to get hotels near the Al-Haram.

this also could help to sustain the hotel tariff in Makkah. imagine you can stay about 1-3KM away from Al-Haram and take a monorail ride to Al-Haram than have to walk.

[thefreestyler]

Originally Posted by Sdare

usually slow

thn hw come the report say that it can transport 500,000 pilgrims with in 6 to 8 hours.........???

[mrrao]

waoooooooooooooo!

[womfalcs3]

There are fast monorails out there (~360 km/hr)... but I don't think this will be a fast one. It's only ten meters high, and the traveling distance isn't THAT great.