Jeddah: During this year’s Hajj, the Masha’ir train made 2200 journeys between different places in the Holy Land. The Saudi Arabian Railway also stated that 13 lakh pilgrims traveled between Mina and Arafat during the Hajj days. The metro authorities said in a statement that the Hajj travel plan was a complete success with nine stations from the bridge where Jamras are located in Mina to Arafa.
The Mashair Metro service under Saudi Railways operates between Arafa, Muzdalifah and Mina, where pilgrims perform the main functions of Hajj. In the early days of Hajj, the number of pilgrims was few, but from the eight nights of Dhul Hajj, the number of pilgrims increased significantly during the journey from Mina to Arafa and from there to Muzdalifah. About 250,000 pilgrims used the train facility on their way back to Mina following Rapparakkal at Muzdalifah. During the ‘Tashreeq’ days following 10th of Dhul Hajj, more than six and a half lakh people relied on the Mashair train to travel between Mina-1, Mina-2 and Muzdalifa-3 stations.
