Cairo: A Saudi female driver is elated to have fulfilled her dream of piloting a high-speed train.
Aya Taher was among 32 Saudi women who were groomed to be the first batch of female drivers of the Haramain express trains, a service linking the holy cities of Mecca and Medina via the port city of Jeddah.
Aya credited her family’s support for helping her dream come true. “When I decided to be a Haramain train driver, my family was the first to support me. They were happy and encouraged me,” she told Al Saudia TV.
Before taking the helm, Aya and her colleagues underwent intense theoretical and practical training, completing a 12-month course for taking the job.
Passengers interviewed on the television expressed admiration upon learning that the driver of their train journey was a woman.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has seen a vigorous drive to empower women in different fields as part of massive changes.
Inaugurated in 2018, the Haramain rail service aims to carry 60 million passengers annually and cope with the growing numbers of Muslim pilgrims flocking to Islam’s two holiest sites there.
Its capacity increased by 100,000 seats to reach a total of 1.6 million during the recent Islamic Hajj pilgrimage season in June, according to its operator.
During this year’s Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the service also transported more than 1 million passengers, an increase of 22% in passenger numbers compared to the same month last year, the Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) said.
The 450km journey takes nearly two hours.
Ramadan traditionally marks the peak season of Umrah or minor pilgrimage in the Grand Mosque in Mecca. After performing the Umrah, many pilgrims would head to Medina to offer prayers at the Prophet’s Mosque and visit other landmarks in the city.
