Saudi rail carried approximately 156.4 million passengers in 2025

Saudi Arabia’s railway passenger numbers reached approximately 156.4 million in 2025, up 266.5 percent from 42.7 million in 2024, according to the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT). The figures appear in the authority’s Railway Transport Statistics 2025. Intracity rail passengers rose 368 percent to 145.4 million, from 31.1 million the previous year. Intercity passengers fell 5.6 percent to 10.9 million, compared with 11.6 million in 2024.

Passenger numbers peaked in December at approximately 15.9 million and were lowest in April at 10.8 million. Passenger trains operated 1.4 million trips over 42.3 million kilometers during the year. The Riyadh Metro recorded 949,400 trips, covering 26.8 million kilometers.

The Haramain High Speed Railway accounted for 76 percent of passenger transport performance, with approximately 2,743 million passenger-kilometers, down 6.1 percent from 2024. The East Train’s passenger transport performance increased 8.3 percent to 496 million passenger-kilometers, while the North Train recorded a 6.9 percent increase to 370 million. Overall, railway passenger transport performance declined 3.1 percent to 3,609.3 million passenger-kilometers, from 3,724.3 million in 2024.

Rail freight volume reached 16.1 million tons in 2025. The North Train carried 14.4 million tons, or 89.7 percent of the total, including 5.1 million tons of phosphate, 5 million tons of bauxite, 2.6 million tons of phosphoric acid and 1.7 million tons of molten sulphur. The East Train transported 1.7 million tons of freight, including limestone, grain and cement, and moved 915,400 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Rail freight transport performance rose 3.6 percent to 17,011.5 million ton-kilometers, compared with 16,427.7 million in 2024. The North Train accounted for 96.3 percent of that performance, recording 16,374.5 million ton-kilometers. The East Train recorded 637 million ton-kilometers, an increase of 9.4 percent.

The Haramain High Speed Railway had the highest on-time performance rate at 97.8 percent, followed by the East Train at 96.1 percent and the North Train at 94.3 percent. Freight trains operated 8,885 trips and covered approximately 6.1 million kilometers during 2025. GASTAT said the annual statistics draw on administrative records from the Transport General Authority and spatial modeling used to derive certain indicators.