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Saudi Arabia is to create a metro network for the city of Jeddah. The 108km-long network will consist of three lines: one running from Old Makkah Road to downtown, before finishing at Sari Road, a second running along Prince Majed Street from King Abdul Aziz International Airport to where the old airport was located, and a third will run along Palestine Road.

The plan was unveiled on Tuesday by the undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport Abdul Aziz Al-Ouhali. Al-Ouhali said the Saudi government would also carry out a comprehensive review of the country’s public transport system over the next 15 months.

The news comes as construction work began this week on the metro in Saudi’s capital Riyadh. The light rail system will have 36 stations. The first phase will involve the construction of a 25km north- south link  and the second phase will create a 14km route running from east to west.

Arab News said the first phase of the project would cover 30 districts of the city and serve 1,500 passengers per hour per track initially and then up to 8,000 passengers per hour.