The question
How many people rode the train in Saudi Arabia? Which line has the most passengers? And how many passengers passed through the airports?
The figure
According to the rail transport statistics in GASTAT’s database, Saudi Arabia’s trains carried 42.7 million passengers in 2024 (Jumada al-Akhirah 1445 – Jumada al-Akhirah 1446 AH), up from 7.5 million in 2019.
But nearly half of them, 47.8%, rode the King Abdulaziz International Airport train in Jeddah: 20.4 million passengers. It shuttles passengers within the airport, and it started after 2019. The Riyadh train carried 5.4 million passengers, its first figure.
In 2020 the total number of passengers fell to 2.4 million, then rose every year.
Between cities: the Haramain train leads
Trains between cities carried 11.6 million passengers in 2024, up from 2.9 million in 2019.
Of these, 79.5% were on the Haramain high-speed train: 9.2 million passengers, an increase of 48.6% on 2023. In 2019 it carried 0.7 million.
The East train carried 1.5 million passengers, and the North train 0.9 million, up from 0.1 million in 2017, more than 6 times as many.
And air travel?
According to the air transport statistics, 128.6 million passengers passed through Saudi Arabia’s airports in 2024, against 111.7 million in 2023, an increase of 15.1%.
Of these, 69.3 million were on international flights and 59.3 million on domestic flights.
Saudi carriers carried 40.8% of international flight passengers, and foreign carriers 59.1%. Flights from Saudi Arabia’s airports reached 65 countries in 2024.
Airport passengers rose in a year
Passengers at Saudi Arabia’s airports in millions (arrivals and departures together), 2023 and 2024 (Jumada al-Akhirah 1445 – Jumada al-Akhirah 1446 AH)
| 2023 | 2024 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic flights | 51.1 | 59.3 | 16.0% |
| International flights | 60.6 | 69.3 | 14.4% |
| Total | 111.7 | 128.6 | 15.1% |
What this means for your decision
This describes what happened up to 2024; it is not a forecast for the coming years.
- For anyone travelling between Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah: the Haramain train carried 9.2 million passengers in 2024, more than any other line between cities, and its passengers rose 48.6% in a year.
- For the owner of a hotel, shop or delivery service near the stations: passengers on trains between cities reached 11.6 million, up from 2.9 million in 2019.
- For researchers and journalists: do not add airport-train passengers to passengers on trains between cities; its figure alone is nearly half the total.
Analytical reading, not financial advice.
Full official figures: Tourism and transport: the official figures · How many people perform Umrah each year, and when is it busiest? (reading)(Arabic) · All insights(Arabic)
Translated from the Arabic reading; the Arabic text is the original. The original reading(Arabic)