Dammam Metro is a proposed metro rail system for the
Dammam metropolitan area
The Dammam metropolitan area, or Greater Dammam, is the largest metropolitan area in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It consists of "The Triplet Cities" of Dammam, Khobar, Dhahran and their vicinities. It had a population of 1,916,644 milli ...
in the
Eastern Province of
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. The project is estimated to cost SAR 60 billion (US$ 16 billion), and was originally expected to be completed by 2021.
History
An integrated
public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...
system for
Dammam was approved by the
Council of Ministers
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...
on 19 May 2014, and publicly announced by Eastern Province Mayor Fahad Al Jubair on 21 May 2014. The project includes 50 km of
light rail, 110 km of
bus rapid transit, and 350 km of
feeder buses to link the outskirts of the city. The Council also approved the establishment of a private company to monitor the implementation of the project.
The light rail system will have two lines. The first line will link
Tarout Island
Tārūt Island ( ar, جزيرة تاروت) is an island in the Persian Gulf belonging to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, connected by two causeways to Qatif. It is six kilometers from the coast, and is the longest island in the Persian Gu ...
with
King Fahd Causeway
The King Fahd Causeway ( ar, جسر الملك فهد, Jisr al-Malik Fahd) is a 25 km (15.5 mi) long series of bridges and causeways connecting Khobar, Saudi Arabia and Al Jasra, Bahrain.
Its five bridges rest on 536 concrete pylons, with ...
via
Qatif
Qatif or Al-Qatif ( ar, ٱلْقَطِيف ''Al-Qaṭīf'') is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the ...
, Dammam and
Dhahran
Dhahran ( ar, الظهران, ''Al-Dhahran'') is a city located in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. With a total population of 240,742 as of 2021, it is a major administrative center for the Saudi oil industry. Together with the nearby citi ...
. The second line will connect King Fahd Road in Dammam to the
King Fahd International Airport. Studies to finalize the alignment and location of the stations will take an estimated 18 months.
At the Middle East Rail 2017 conference and exhibition in Dubai on 7 March 2017, President of the Public Transport Authority Rumaih Al Rumaih stated that the Dammam Metro project would be developed as a
public private partnership
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
.
References
{{Rail transport in Saudi Arabia
Rapid transit in Saudi Arabia
Transport in Dammam
Proposed rapid transit
Proposed rail infrastructure in Saudi Arabia