Saudi Arabia’s railways carried about 156.4 million passengers in 2025, up 266.5% from 42.7 million in 2024, according to the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).
Intracity rail passengers rose 368% to 145.4 million from 31.1 million, GASTAT’s Railway Transport Statistics 2025 bulletin showed, Saudi Gazette reported. Intercity passengers fell 5.6% to 10.9 million from 11.6 million.
Passenger numbers peaked in December at about 15.9 million. April was the lowest month, at 10.8 million.
Passenger trains made 1.4 million trips in 2025 and covered 42.3 million kilometers. The Riyadh Metro accounted for 949,400 trips and 26.8 million kilometers.
Intercity passenger train trips rose to 42,827 from 35,614 in 2024.
Total passenger transport performance fell 3.1% to 3,609.3 million passenger-kilometers, from 3,724.3 million in 2024.
The Haramain High Speed Railway had the largest share at 76%, or about 2,743 million passenger-kilometers. That was 6.1% lower than in 2024.
Passenger-kilometers on the East Train rose 8.3% to 496 million. The North Train recorded a 6.9% increase to 370 million.
Rail freight reached 16.1 million tons in 2025, up from 15.6 million tons in 2024.
The North Train carried 14.4 million tons, or 89.7% of the total. Its cargo included 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 sulfur.
The East Train moved 1.7 million tons of freight, including 782,800 tons of limestone, 756,900 tons of grain and 117,000 tons of cement. It also carried 915,400 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers.
Freight transport performance rose 3.6% to 17,011.5 million ton-kilometers from 16,427.7 million. The North Train accounted for 96.3% of the total, at 16,374.5 million ton-kilometers.
Freight trains made 8,885 trips, up from 6,807 in 2024, and covered about 6.1 million kilometers.
The Haramain High Speed Railway had the highest on-time rate at 97.8%, followed by the East Train at 96.1% and the North Train at 94.3%, according to bulletin figures reported by Okaz.
GASTAT said the annual bulletin is based on administrative records from the Transport General Authority.
