The Saudi Railways Authority announced the graduation of 32 women to drive the Haramain Express, the fastest train in the Kingdom.
The authority said on its Twitter account yesterday, Sunday, that "32 Saudi female leaders have been graduated, setting out (...) to fulfill their great dream of driving one of the fastest trains in the world," considering that these Saudi women are "the first batch of female leaders of the Haramain Express."
The Haramain Express train was launched in 2018, aiming to serve 60 million passengers annually. It operates with electricity and travels 460 km between Mecca and Medina in two hours and 45 minutes.
The Saudi Railways Authority published a short video clip on its Twitter account, showing a number of first batch graduates driving a simulation model of the Haramain Express Train.
32 Saudi female leaders set off at full speed to achieve their great dream of driving one of the fastest trains in the world, to be the first batches of #Al-Haramain_Express_Train Leaders.
pic.twitter.com/zWGA5DbsuT
— Saudi Railways |
SAR (@SARSaudiRailway) January 1, 2023
In recent years, the Kingdom has witnessed extensive transformations, allowing women to drive by royal order in 2017, followed by unprecedented decisions, including the enrollment of women in the main branches of the armed forces with different military ranks.
The decisions also allowed equality with men in the right to obtain a passport and leave the country with the abolition of the requirement for the consent of the guardian, as well as equality in the retirement age equivalent to 58 years.
And the Saudi Minister of Human Resources, Ahmed Al-Rajhi, said at the government communication conference last year that the target of the participation rate of Saudi women in the labor market by 2025, according to the government’s Vision 2030, is 32%, and that this percentage was achieved on the ground in 2022.
The participation of women in business in Saudi Arabia has doubled in the last six years, with the Kingdom achieving the fastest growth rate in the participation of women in the world. The percentage of female-led enterprises in the Kingdom jumped from 21.5% in 2016 to reach 45% in 2022 of the total start-up companies, according to statistics. official.
Data from the Saudi General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises indicated that the percentage of female-led enterprises in the Kingdom is almost close to the percentage of male-led enterprises.