Railways remain the least developed means of transportation in the Kingdom. With such vast distances to cover, in often adverse environmental conditions, it is inevitable that airline services seem to be a more practical mode of long-distance transportation.

The Kingdom’s railways currently consist primarily of a single track, standard-gauge line, running for 350 miles [570 km] from Riyadh to Dammam in the eastern region. This line, which was opened in 1951, passes through Dhahran, Abqaiq, Hofuf, Harad and al-Kharj and has benefited from substantial renovation in recent years. An additional line joining Hofuf with Riyadh was opened in 1985.

The Kingdom’s railways are managed by the Saudi Railways Organization, established in 1966, as an independent public utility, governed by a board of directors.

In 2000, there were 822,000 railway passengers.