The Dammam–Riyadh Line, also called Line 1, connects the cities of Dammam, Abqaiq, Hofuf and Riyadh (449.11 km) and is used by passenger trains. It is a very picturesque route, that takes you through the desert dunes, connecting the central region to the Persian Gulf. The total journey takes about 4.5 hours and during that time, TV and snacks are offered on board.
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There are four stations along the route:
The current passenger stations at Dammam, Hufuf and Riyadh were designed by Lucio Barbera and designed and built between 1978 and 1980. They were opened for public service in 1981. The terminus stations in Dammam and Riyadh are extremely similar and consist of a rectangular hall of three naves separated by two lines of pillars along the ends of the tracks and two wings at the ends of the main hall along the outer tracks. The design is based on the layout of some mosques along the Mediterranean Sea, where the prayer hall is located at one side of a court with lesser wings along the sides of the court.[1] The style and decoration of the buildings uses elements such as triangular openings to construct windows and arcades and parapets with rectangular steps.[2] This somewhat reminds of Nejd architecture but is also common in other Arab architecture. The station building in Hufuf lays to the east of the through line along one side. The decoration is very similar to the other two stations though.
Rails of the type C.W.R UIC 60 are used.[3]
In 2007, the Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) contracted a consortium made up of Siemens Transportation Systems and the Saudi Arabian Nour Communications Company to modernize both Line 1 and Line 2 of the existing Saudi Rail network. The line will be equipped with signalling technology including an electronic interlocking as core of the installation and Trainguard 100 for ETCS Level 1. GSM-Railway (GSM-R) mobile radio technology will be used for communications on the entire rail network.[4]