Train ridership in Saudi Arabia tops 39M in Q3 2025

Riyadh Metro tops the list of trains with the highest number of passengers

Saudi Arabia’s rail sector recorded a remarkable performance in Q3 2025, transporting over 39 million passengers, skyrocketing 333% compared to nine million passengers in Q3 2024, according to the Transport General Authority (TGA).

This increase was driven by significant growth in intra-city train traffic, with the number of passengers jumping to 36.3 million, an increase of more than 496% year-on-year (YoY), while the number of inter-city train passengers declined by 7% YoY to 2.7 million, as the following table shows:

Statistics showed that over 36 million passengers used urban trains, led by the Riyadh Metro with more than 25 million passengers, followed by the automated people mover (APM) at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, which carried over 10 million passengers.

The APM at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh transported about 900,000 passengers, as detailed below:

Intercity train passengers totaled 2.7 million in Q3 2025, with the Haramain High-Speed Rail accounting for the majority at over 2 million, followed by the East Train (SAR) with 378,000, and the North Train (SAR) with 251,000, as shown below:

Regarding freight and minerals, TGA said that over 4 million tons of minerals and goods and more than 277,000 containers were transported by rail during Q3 2025.

The East Train Network carried 227,000 standard containers and 414,900 tons, while the North Train Network transported 3.68 million tons.

Since the start of 2025, a total of 111.2 million passengers traveled by train in Saudi Arabia, including 102.4 million on intracity trains and 8.8 million on intercity trains.

Argaam data showed steady growth in urban train ridership throughout 2025, rising from 32.3 million passengers in Q1 to 36.3 million in Q3. Meanwhile, intercity passenger numbers remained stable at around 2.7 million in both Q2 and Q3, after reaching 3.4 million in Q1.

According to Argaam’s data, train passengers in Saudi Arabia rose to about 42.7 million in 2024, up 41% YoY, with Intercity trains carrying 31.1 million passengers and intercity services transporting around 11.6 million.