Saudi Arabia To Launch Riyadh Monorail Project in 2025

A driverless monorail project in the Saudi capital Riyadh will be launched before the end of this year, according to a company executive.

The monorail will then be tested in early 2027 before it is fully commissioned in the same year, said Faddy Al-Aql, chief asset delivery officer at King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), which signed the contract for the monorail in late 2024.

Al-Aql told the Saudi Arabic language daily Aleqtisadiah on Sunday that the monorail would have a capacity of 3,500 passengers per hour.

He said the monorail will support the '10-minute city' concept, where every destination is within a 10-minute walk, using suspended pedestrian bridges that connect all buildings to each other, including the metro station within KAFD.

“The monorail project is in the design stage and we hope that construction work will begin in the last quarter of this year,” Al-Aql said.

“Trail operations are scheduled to start in early 2027…commissioning of the monorail and opening it to the public will start in the same year,” he added.

In October 2024, Zawya Projects had reported that King Abdullah Financial District Development and Management Company (KAFD DMC) signed an agreement with a consortium led by CRRC Nanjing Puzhen and Hassan Allam Construction Saudi and including CRRC (Hong Kong) for the construction of a 3.6-kilometre monorail project in Saudi capital Riyadh.