THE CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF MONORAIL SYSTEM IN JEDDAH CITY, SAUDI ARABIA Shougi Suliman Abosuliman*, Arun Kumar, Firoz Alam and Roesfiansjah Rasjidin School of Aerospace Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia * Corresponding author email: e_shaugi@yahoo.com Abstract The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is undertaking vast infrastructure projects, extending to new cities, to accommodate its high population growth and to provide jobs for the 100,000 Saudis entering the workforce each year. In Jeddah, part of the expansion plan, is a network of high speed rail transit to move hajj pilgrims, citizens, and business and leisure visitors to their destinations. A 20-km rail is part of a planned commuter network which includes a series of monorail circuits to connect the ancient parts of the city, its modern workplaces, educational and leisure facilities and residential neighbourhoods. This study examines this proposal and seeks to ground an efficient monorail ‘people- mover’ system of 120 km in six circuits into the overall transport system of the kingdom. An indicative price for moving 400,000 people per day is $AU2.86b.. Keywords: Monorail systems, Transportation modes, Saudi Arabia, Jeddah City 1. Introduction & Background As the world’s largest oil and gas provider, Saudi Arabia relies almost exclusively on hydrocarbons for its funds and there is little in the way of taxation. In the mid-twentieth century, funds from the nationalised Aramco oil company were used to put in place oil-based infrastructure: pipelines, ports and refining/processing facilities. Riyadh, as the capital expanded, a railway was built by Aramco mid-century to supply the capital. It was continually upgraded for goods and eventually passenger transport. On the other side of the peninsula, Jeddah continued its role as the gateway to Mecca and Medina for two million pilgrims for the annual hajj. Jeddah, an ancient port, relies mainly on air travel, thus it has one of the highest capacity airports in the world, including the largest terminal. However, once on the ground, road transport is required to move the city’s population of four million people and its visitors. Despite the investment on super highways connecting the three cities, transport is inefficient and requires intensive maintenance, given the high year-round temperatures and periodic dust storms. Thus, the government is turning to rail for freight, intercity passengers, and intra-city commuting. ( 1 Gulf Cooperation Council countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) Jeddah, still a walled city in the 1940s, is now placing itself as a tourist destination seeking to attract the annual influx of pilgrims into staying longer. Further, as Islam is the country’s legal, religious and social basis, any socio-economic infrastructure such as rail-based commuter vehicles require sensitive planning to curtail the universal reliance on private cars and cheap taxis for moving around the city. Large government-run buses do not follow set schedules, although privately run smaller buses have regular routes and schedules. This research considers the nature of the planned monorail system which will connect intercity rail services and the airport with central Jeddah, both traditional