Transportation During Hajj Season

Transportation During Hajj Season is one of the services provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to pilgrims, supervised by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and the Ministry of Transport and Logistic Services, in cooperation with licensed entities, to ensure the arrival of the visitors of the Grand Mosque to Makkah al-Mukarramah, transport them between the holy sites, and secure their performance of the Hajj rituals.

The operational plans for the transportation and logistics sectors in the Kingdom during the Hajj season include preparing road networks, ensuring the readiness of airports and ports, and the networks of railways and public transport buses.

Pilgrims arrive in Makkah al-Mukarramah through flights to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah or Taif International Airport, then transfer to Makkah al-Mukarramah via the Haramain High Speed Railway, or by using dedicated buses or private transport vehicles.

The Haramain High Speed Railway operates on electric power, reaching speeds of up to three hundred km/h, and operates trips between Makkah al-Mukarramah and al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, passing through Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City. It provides speed, safety, and comfort for pilgrims. The Haramain High Speed Railway successfully transported 750,000 passengers through 3,627 trips, with a commitment rate of 98 percent during the Hajj season of 2023.

Saudi Railway Company (SAR) operates al-Mashaaer Metro Line, which transports pilgrims across nine stations, starting from Arafat, passing through Muzdalifah, and ending at Mina. Al-Mashaaer Metro Line fleet includes sixteen trains operating at a speed of eighty km/h to connect the nine stations of the holy sites and are connected by a double-track railway line that is eighteen km long. Each train has a capacity of three thousand passengers, with a total hourly capacity of seventy-two thousand passengers.

The number of pilgrims benefiting from al-Mashaaer Metro Line reached 2.13 million passengers during 2208 trips during the Hajj season of 2023.

In 2022, the Royal Commission for Makkah City and the Holy Sites launched, through the Unified Center for Transport in Makkah al-Mukarramah (Makkah Transport), the public bus transportation project in Makkah al-Mukarramah. It runs between the Haramain High Speed Railway station in ar-Rusaifah neighborhood and the Jabal Omar station near the courtyards of the Grand Mosque. This project is part of the executive initiatives and targets of the Pilgrim Experience Program, one of the programs of Saudi Vision 2030. It aims to accommodate the transportation needs resulting from the expected growth in the number of guests of the Grand Mosque and the holy sites and to ensure their easy access to the Grand Mosque in Makkah al-Mukarramah.

Shuttle transportation is one of the modern operational patterns that integrate with the Hajj systems, organized by the General Syndicate of Cars. It is activated at the same time every year during the Hajj season and consists of a dedicated two-lane bus route.

Regular shuttle transportation trips during the Hajj season include routes to and from Makkah al-Mukarramah outside the holy sites, and other routes between the holy sites during the performance of the rituals.