Saudi Arabia is considering plans for the future of the Saudi Railway Organization (SRO), one of two rail agencies running the kingdom’s long-distance rail sector.

One option could be gradually liquidating the operations of Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO) and transferring all its assets to the Saudi Railway Company (SAR). However, it remains unclear how and when the contractual obligations of the SRO will be handed over to SAR.

The restructuring process of the kingdom’s transport sector started last year when the SRO was merged with the Public Transport Authority (PTA). Saudi Arabia’s Transport Minister Suleiman al-Hamdan also took over as head of the SAR in 2016, which prompted industry sources to say that a merger between SAR and the SRO was “just a matter of time” since there was no point in running two agencies to oversee the kingdom’s long-distance rail sector.

SRO is project owner of the 450-kilometre Haramain High-Speed Rail (HHR) project between Mecca and Medina and the 2,400km North-South Railway between Al-Jouf and Riyadh, while SAR is the project firm established to oversee the new mineral railway and its expansion into Jubail and Dammam.

The SRO and SAR are regulated by the Saudi Railways Regulatory Commission, whose role entails issuing licences to rail transport companies, setting the standards and technical specifications for rail services, and investigating accidents.

It was confirmed in February that the Haramain high-speed rail will begin full operations in 2018, two years later than expected, following the settlement of a dispute between SRO and the Al-Shoula consortium.

The passenger line of the North-South Railway has already started operating a five-times-a week return trip between Riyadh and Al-Qassim in late February. The 1,486km freight line began operating in November 2015.