The Mecca Metro or Makkah Metro is a
metro system with four planned lines in the city of
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
. The Metro was constructed by
China Railway Construction Corporation and is run by Mecca Mass Rail Transit Company (MMRTC). The metro forms part of the 62-billion-riyal Mecca Public Transport Programme (MPTP), which will include integrated bus services.
The four proposed metro lines
will be in addition to the existing
Al Mashaer Al Mugaddassah Metro line: 18.1 km, connecting
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
, Arafat, Muzdalifa, and Mina opened in November 2010.
Many people utilize the Mecca Metro during the
Hajj
Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...
. The price for the metro is 250
riyals, with prices lowering to 100 riyals if traveling on the last day of Hajj.
Planning
In August 2012, it was announced that the
Saudi government had approved a US$16.5 billion budget to build four metro lines () of the system. The announcement gave an estimated time period to completion of 10 years. Invitations for tenders were due to be issued in January 2013.
Four new lines are to be built.
*Line : will connect
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
to large multilevel parking facilities from the south to the northeast.
*Line : is a straight link between Mina and Mecca and continues parallel to the
HHSR into the southwest.
*Line : will connect Arafat and Mina to the west side of Mecca and continues to the northwest.
*Line : will connect the south to Mecca with a straight extension to the west.
Work on the long metro network with 87 new stations had been expected to commence construction in 2015,
then in 2016,
but had not started ever since. After a failed tender in 2017,
the Saudi government restarted the project in summer 2024 by ordering a feasibility study on phase 1 of the project. This phase with a US$8 billion budget covers planned line B and most parts of line C, while line A will be in the second phase, and line D plus a northern extension of line C will be part of phase 3.
MMRTC has appointed
Prasarana Malaysia to provide consultancy services during Phase 1, which covers the construction of two metro lines, totaling 45.1 km and 22 stations by 2019.
See also
*
Jeddah Metro
*
Madinah Metro
*
Riyadh Metro
*
Haramain High Speed Railway
*
Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro line
References
External links
Makkah at ''UrbanRail.net''
{{Rapid transit in Asia
Rapid transit in Saudi Arabia
Proposed rapid transit
Proposed rail infrastructure in Saudi Arabia