450km in Business Class Through the Saudi Desert (CRAZY!)
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Today we’re back in Saudi Arabia to head from the capital to the Arabian Sea!
We’ll be travelling in a luxurious Business Class coach for this 450km journey from Riyadh to Dammam through the world’s largest sand expanse – so join me and we’ll go and check it all out together!
#SaudiArabia #SAR #Riyadh #Dammam #DesertTrain #TrainWindowViews
Date of Filming: 5/2/24
Camera: GoPro Hero 12 Black
Operator: SAR (Saudi Arabia Railways)
Departure: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Arrival: Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Cost: Business Class (Full Fare) – 310 Saudi Riyals (£63.86, €76.36, $82.64)
Click here to see my Saudi Arabia High-speed train review from Jeddah to Medina:
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00:00 – Intro
01:30 – Arrival at Riyadh East Station & Tour
02:28 – Business Class Lounge
04:30 – To The Platform & Train Info
06:04 – Route Information & Pricing
07:50 – Business Class Seat Tour
09:45 – Complimentary Service
10:18 – Exploring the Train
11:40 – Speeding through the World’s Largest Desert
12:20 – Calling at Hufuf & Abqaiq
14:35 – Trip Summary & Arriving at Dammam
15:50 – Outro
41 Comments
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not 450km/h dislike botton 👎
It's Persian Gulf, NOT Arabian Gulf.
Excellent video, that train is made by CAF.
Please review more Spanish trains
Wearing shorts in Saudi Arabia… A daring choice 😂
does it have a stop at the saudi consulate in istanbul?
There's a rail line opening for passengers (it's already open for freight) between Abu Dhabi on the west coast and Fujeirah on the East (Indian Ocena) coast, in the United Arab Emirates, I've been watching it get built, it will have tremendoes scenery as it goes through the moutains and into Fujeirah. Get yourself on that, I think it's opening end of this year Etihad Rail.
10:07 "help empower women" on a chocolate bar😂 really wierd
Awesome video! I can’t wait to visit Saudi sometime soon. Their railways are awesome 🇸🇦 ❤
Amazing trip! Would just note that Dammam is actually Saudi's third largest city.
شكرا لك 👍 انا اعيش في الرياض ولم يسبق لي ركوب القطار في الحقيقه اعتمد على سيارتي 😂
not bad at all….worth giving it a try!
I wasted one year of my life working in Hufhuf, Saudi is hell on earth, to be avoided at all cost.
Great video thanks, lot's to explore in the Arab states. Regards Barry
Nice video! By the way, there is another rail service from RIyadh to Qurrayat near the Jordanese border. So I was wondering if you would like to do a video on that rail service next. Thanks for reading Nonstop Eurotrip.
El desierto más grande del mundo es el Sáhara
The freight trains are very North American in appearance
Riaz on rise
I shall rise
Whoever came up with "Railway" for the station name is definitely running at my speed!
Just one niggle (sorry). The socket is not "UK style" as it's used in many countries. The proper name is "Type G" 🙂
I know – pedantic…. As I said, sorry.
The buffet counter has stools but the counter is cluttered with food displays leaving no room to eat. Is there an attendant working the counter?
Thank you for taking me on a new adventure in a country I've never been nor have I ever seen a video of this pleasant train or elegant stations before.😃✌
3:00 A banana wrapped in plastic. Really??? 🤦♂
0:55 I don't know how they plan to become a major tourist destination without fixing all their civil rights issues. Like, even if I wanted to go there, my existence is illegal there.
Oh to share a date with nonstop
Was it very difficult to get a tourist visa please. And was there any hassle filming. Thanks.
10:00 a bottle of fresh orange juice
Are Women able to travel in safety on the trains?
I hope they can and would be prudent to dress modestly – no leggings or clothes showing private parts.
I’m no prude but this is not the USA and if you want respect you need to think of the culture of the country.
Great trip, After Haramain HSR, you also try this train from Capital in Riyadh into Dammam. To be honest, you deserve full window seat, not half window seat. I hope you also try the Riyadh – Qurayyat line, which the route reaching Saudi Arabia – Jordan border, and based on Wiki, the train is also CAF Push Pull Train but more modern than this. The fare scheme looks great, but yeah you deserve heavy meal rather than snack box.
Good to see there are also local public transport connections at the stations of most of the major cities now. Dammam, Qassim, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah all have local bus connections now at their train stations along with Riyadh East with a metro line and two bus routes. One major oversight of the Riyadh Metro, however, is that not a single metro line or even bus route (despite the huge number of bus services that have been added) goes to Riyadh North Station at the moment (not even the feeder route 935 which goes near it actually reaches it), so your best bet currently is a taxi between there and Sabic Metro on the Yellow Line. However, this should be an easy fix to add or extend a bus route from the nearest metro station, and also open up a direct BRT route between East and North stations. Hope they do something about that soon.
Great Video Man
I worked in Jeddah for a few months and love the country. Thank you for some inspiration for my next trip there
A chocolate bar saying help empower women, in Saudi Arabia. That's….yeah.
شكرا لمشاركة تجربتك في قطار الرياض-الدمام. أعلنت المؤسسة العامة للخطوط الحديدية السعودية SAR أنهم سوف يستبدلون قطارات هذا الخط بقطارات فائقة السرعة high speed train ( bullet train ( كما في قطار الحرمين من جدة إلى المدينة بسرعة 300 كم في الساعة خلال سنة. هناك مناقصة مطروحة للبدء في إنشاء شبكة قطارات سريعة للبضائع والركاب تربط الدمام بمدينة جدة وسوف يستغرق 5 سنوات تقريبا. المملكة العربية السعودية تعمل حاليا بشكل مكثف على الربط مع دول الخليج العربي وجيرانها للإستفادة من موقعها الإستراتيجي وربط العالم والموانئ والبضائع وتطوير اللوجستيات في كل أنحاء المملكة العربية السعودية. هناك مبالغ مرصودة تقدر ب 100 مليار دولار لتطوير شبكة اللوجستيات والمطارات والموانئ والقطارات. المملكة العربية السعودية مقبلة على إكسبو 2030 وكأس العالم 2034 لذلك من المهم العمل على تطوير وسائل التنقل بكافة أنواعها. 🇸🇦💚
The Saudi's do railway lounges very well, especially if you visit from Europe with very nice service. I experienced the Haramain high speed service , and the only annoying thing I could find was that online tickets could not be changed at a service desk but only online. But maybe this has been changed by now.
This train ride is Anakin Skywalker's version of hell.
I worked on the project to introduce the CAF 5000 TRAINS from 2011. Interestingly inside the loco it’s like 2 locos in one. 2 MTU V12 engines each with its own alternator sets and ABB traction converter/inverter sets. So in theory being 2 locos in one shouldn’t fail in service. Camels, people and oil tankers crossing the tracks at will made it an interesting journey; oh not to mention sand drifts across the tracks on a windy day.
Nice to see SAR has put a new livery on the outside and changed the seat covers. Everything else looks exactly how I remember it, especially when I saw at the front of the train the old colour scheme coming through the paint by the handrails, sand erosion is a major problem as the sets get sand blasted for hours every day.
Well done CAF, it was a great experience.
Da inveja de ver este vídeo aqui no brazil não tem nada disso infelizmente
As a wheelchair user, thank you ever so much for mentioning the accessibility features of this train.
Gotta love the irony on the chocolate bar wrapper, talking about women's empowerment in one of the most oppressive countries in the world for women. On a more positive note, I did notice all the freight locomotives have special raised intakes, probably to prevent ingestion of sand.
Very interesting !!! :):):)