Saudi Arabia has unveiled the plan to launch the ‘Dream of the Desert’ train service.
A first-of-its-kind in the Middle East and North Africa region. The 40-cabin luxury train will add extra quality services and options to the kingdom’s means
of transportation, as per SPA. Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) partnered with the Italian Arsenale Group, a specialist in administrating luxurious train trips, to launch the ‘Dream of the Desert’ service.
The 40 luxury-cabin ‘Dream of the Desert’ train will be open for bookings at the end of 2024, and actual operation will begin in the fourth quarter of 2025. The first trips will start from the North Train Station in Riyadh, run through Hail and end at Al Qurayyat train station.
Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistic Services and Chairman of the Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) Engineer Saleh bin Nasser Al Jasser said this would be one of the initiatives the National Strategy for Transport and Logistics has taken to improve the quality of life and support leading national strategies. The signing ceremony held in Riyadh.
Production has started on Dream of the Desert, the first luxury train service in Saudi Arabia, scheduled to cut a swathe across the kingdom’s spectacular desert interior by the end of 2025.
Made in Italy, by hospitality company Arsenale Group, and commissioned by Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR), the 40-cabin train will run on 1,300 kilometres of existing railway lines from the capital Riyadh to Al Qurayyat in the northern province of Al Jawf, making stops along the way. The planned one- to two-day route takes in Al Qassim, Hail and Al Jouf, on the edge of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Nature Reserve, before it terminates some 30km from the border with Jordan.
SAR chief executive Bashar bin Khalid Al-Malik said the train service would enable Saudis and tour-ists to explore more of the Kingdom when he signed an agreement with Arsenale CEO, Paolo Barletta, on Tuesday. The railway carriages will be built in Italy, Barletta said, but would be “fully customised and inspired by Saudi style and tradition”.
The Italian company is already working in collabo-ration with Orient Express on La Dolce Vita, a new luxury rail service with six itineraries criss-crossing Italy, set to launch this year. Arsenale has also signed an agreement with the UAE’s national railway company, Etihad Railway, to develop a luxury train that will travel across the Middle Eastern peninsula. The ventures come as luxury train cruising is set to become a popular post-Covid travel trend.
The update on Dream of the Desert is one of many as Saudi Arabia fast-tracks its ambitions to become a leading tourist destination, with plans to attract 150m visitors by the end of the decade. Last year was marked by news of hotel and resort developments across the Kingdom, from AlUla, the ancient oasis city near the sandstone monuments of Hegra; to the Red Sea coast and its islands; Sindalah Island, part of the Neom gigaproject; and the historic settlement of Diriyah.— INP
