BEFORE the modern Saudi Kingdom was created in 1932, the former Turkish imperial government had built a 1050mm (3ft 5½in) gauge line from Damascus (now Syria) to Medina, reaching there in 1908, although the planned section south from there to the pilgrimage city Mecca was never built.
During the First World War, the line – known as the Hejaz Railway – became a target for Allied Forces, especially those led by ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and his Arab allies to prevent German and Turkish forces from using it. After 1920, the badly damaged line was largely abandoned.
Modern railway construction in Saudi Arabia began in 1947, and the first line in the country, built initially to help the growth of the then new oil industry, opened between Riyadh and Dammam via Haradh in October 1951. Rolling stock made in the USA, including Alco-built RS1 diesel locos and RDC DMUs, were used in the early days – although the line mainly served the interests of the Arabian American Oil Company.
Classic EMD-built cab unit (FP7A and FP9A) locos were added to the fleet later, with modifications for operating in the country’s hot, dry interior. This original line, plus a shorter northern route now used by passenger trains that opened in 1985, is now operated as the East Line of Saudi Arabian Railways (SAR), which since 2021 has run all railways in the country after taking over the former Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) that had formerly run the East Line (Lines 1 and 2 on the map accompanying this article).
Train fleets
During its seven decade history, SRO built up a varied diesel loco fleet, although almost all of the locos were built in North America by EMD. In the 1960s and 70s, small numbers of four-axle GP18/GP38 design locos were added to the fleet, followed in the 1980s by 51 six-axle EMD SDL50 locos. In 2014, SRO ordered eight SDD17 locos from Chinese company CRRC. CRRC Qishuyan had previously supplied two similar locos in 2011. The newer SDD17 locos equipped with Chinese-made 12-cylinder 12V280ZJ engines have not been accepted into use and are now in store.