Classic route
SAR East Train
Riyadh → Dammam · Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s first railway, the 1951 Dammam–Riyadh line built under King Abdulaziz, still crosses the Eastern desert and the vast Al-Ahsa oasis.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 8273934 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 3 m from it
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
- See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it
Questions and answers
How long is the SAR East Train?
The SAR East Train runs 449 km from Riyadh to Dammam.
How long does the SAR East Train take?
The fastest scheduled journey is 3 h 40 min for the 449 km. That is an average of 122 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 180 km/h.
Who runs the SAR East Train?
Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR), with CAF diesel push-pull.
How old is the SAR East Train?
The line has been in service since 1951. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
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