Mashair trains to carry 25% less pilgrims during Haj

There will be a 25 percent reduction in the number of pilgrims traveling by trains at the holy sites during the upcoming Haj season in comparison to the number of pilgrims allowed on the trains last year.
This is to ensure unimpeded transportation and timely movement, a Haj Ministry official said recently.
Mashair Railway trains traveling between Arafat and Jamarat Bridge with a capacity of 500,000 pilgrims were flagged off in 2011 with the aim of reducing
the endless traffic bottlenecks at the holy sites during Haj seasons.
“The ministry plans to reduce the capacity of trains to 377,000 pilgrims this year as part of its measures to avoid repeating travel delays and other issues that arose last year,” director general of transport at the Ministry of Haj, Abdul Rahman Endijani, said.
The train service will only be for domestic and Gulf pilgrims this year, he said.
The ministry began considering the proposal for reducing the number of pilgrims earlier this year. It organized a workshop for departments to discuss the problems of rail transport during Haj seasons. It also called on departments to strive for a successful grouping strategy for train travel.
Another solution being implemented to keep railway stations safe from the influx of crowds is to fence off the station area so that undocumented or ticketless pilgrims cannot enter the station premises.
According to sources at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, its contract with the Chinese company to operate the railway will expire this year.
“The Ministry of Municipal Affairs will invite new tenders for the operation and maintenance of the Mashair Railway following this Haj season,” the source said, adding that the new contract will also include operations during the Ramadan.
Endijani said that the trains have operated since the middle of last month in order to ensure a glitch-free system during the Haj season.
He said the beginning of the trial run was aimed at ensuring safe and unobstructed transportation, adding that any delay in train services will have a domino effect on other services.
Another source responsible for modernization at the ministry said on a previous occasion that the investigation committee, appointed to discover the cause of delay in train services on the Arafat Standing day, identified seven reasons for the delay.
Most notable was the accumulation of passengers at stations and the refusal of other to board the train because it would not stop at the stations they wanted to disembark at.
“A pilgrim’s boarding and de-boarding is decided by Haj authorities and not by the pilgrim,” he said.