1st November
The shortest day of the trip. I left at 6.30am I eat omelette and bread for breakfast. I say good bye to the chef and wouldn't charge for the food. I will never forget how generous people living on the edge can be. Chef at the Indian Hotel (friendliest little hotel on the road)
20kms into the ride against a stiffening headwind, I run across the road to talk to the train driver who says he is driving it to Egypt. If you like trains, just sit back and listen to the music, it's kind of "Slow TV" - enjoy!
A Bit of Info
The Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) (Arabic: المؤسسة العامة للخطوط الحديدية) was a state-owned railway company that operated part of Saudi Arabia's rail network, along with the Saudi Railway Company (now Saudi Arabia Railways). The SRO operated a network of railways with a total length of approximately 1,380 kilometers. The network consisted of two main lines. A 449 km passenger line that links Dammam with Riyadh, and a 556 km freight line that connects the King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam with Riyadh.
There are plans to extend the network to the Red Sea port of Jeddah and, eventually to the borders of Jordan, Yemen, but this happened now all the way to Egypt.
Approval to merge the Saudi Railways Organisation and Saudi Railway Company was announced in February 2021, and the Saudi Railways Organisation was merged into the Saudi Railway Company (now Saudi Arabia Railways) on 1 April 2021.
30kms on I eat more omelette from a shack with popcorn and packaged processed breads and sweet balls, scales and mini packets of Tide washing powder. The Pepsi fridge is bare with random cans of carbonated drinks. As the young lad makes me my omelette he says he’s going to London, implausible and I wait for the sad but inevitable question, give me your WhatsApp and you get me a visa?
Map of the Day
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