Established in 2006 by the Council of Ministers and fully owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) is the state entity tasked with owning, developing, and operating the Kingdom’s railway network. Following the official merger and integration of the historic Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) into SAR, the authority serves as the single national railway owner and network infrastructure manager across Saudi Arabia.

SAR manages an expanding multi-line railway network of more than 5,300 kilometers spanning diverse climatic terrains. Its infrastructure includes the 2,750 km North-South Railway (one of the world’s heaviest mineral transport railways handling phosphate and bauxite from Wa’ad Al Shamal to Ras Al Khair), the East Train passenger and freight line linking Riyadh with the Eastern Province port of Dammam, and the flagship 453 km electrified Haramain High-Speed Railway connecting the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) at speeds up to 300 km/h.

Under the National Transport and Logistics Strategy (NTLS) and Saudi Vision 2030, SAR is procuring and executing transformative cross-country mega-programs. Foremost among these is the Saudi Landbridge Project, an east-west passenger and freight corridor linking Jeddah on the Red Sea directly to Riyadh and the Arabian Gulf, alongside the integration of the GCC Railway network and modern hydrogen/battery locomotive pilot trials.