In devising a comprehensive and practical transport system, it is difficult to overestimate the challenge posed by the size of the Kingdom and the nature of its terrain. From the time of King Abdul Aziz it was obvious that it was crucially important to provide the best possible transport system for a vast country with three major focal points: Riyadh in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, Jeddah and the Holy Cities on the west coast and Dammam, with its oil fields to the east.

King Fahd has maintained the policy of facilitating travel and transportation in the Kingdom by every conceivable means, thus effectively bringing every part of the Kingdom closer together.

In this section, we look at all the features of transportation of people and goods in the Kingdom – roads, railways, air and sea. We include a brief section on overall transportation strategy.

The statistics on each aspect of transportation give further evidence of the speed with which, in line with King Fahd’s overall vision for the Kingdom’s future, the infrastructure has been built to meet the demands of the Kingdom’s development plans in the industrial and agricultural sectors of the economy.