A dual-track monorail linking Mecca to the holy sites of Mina and Mount Arafat is now open. The 18-kilometer line opened at the weekend in time to ease the transport bottleneck that begins each year on the eighth day of the Muslim calendar month of Dhul Hijjah.
Construction took just 16 months. It will soon be able to handle 72,000 passengers an hour, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The rail line was built by China Railway Construction, builder of more than half of China’s railways.
The Mecca monorail project was announced by President Hu Jintao and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah in February last year.
Last month China Railway Construction said the project was likely to suffer a US$600 million loss, the worst overseas loss incurred by a Chinese company.