A journey that would take the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his companions days to complete, and not long ago 5-6 hours by bus and 4 by car, only takes 2 hours now and the journey itself is as effortless as a journey can be! That is thanks to the new high speed trains the country have introduced. A truly amazing service that is near faultless and the only complaint really is why it had taken so long to introduce. In this post, I’ll explain the step by step process on how to book the tickets, the practical information you need to be aware of and details of our experience.
Disclaimer: correct as of November 2022
Website: https://www.hhr.sa/#
Step 1: search tickets on official website
Firstly, you’ll need to go to their official website (above) and make sure you use this website as there are other third party ones out there trying to charge double! Then, search for your desired travel locations and times.
Step 2: book desired ticket
Then, you’ll see a timetable of the departure and arrival times. When you click on one, you’ll get the option to choose between a business class ticket and an economy class one.
Step 3: choose your seat
Then, you get to choose your seat. You’ll see the seats in red are those that are unavailable and those in white are available.
Step 4: complete rest of the details
You’ll then be asked for personal information, which you’ll need to fill out. Self explanatory.
Step 5: pay (we struggled with this)
This step should, in theory, be as straight forward as the previous step, but it proved to be quite difficult (and actually impossible) for us. We tried paying for our tickets on numerous occasions, but to no avail. We thought it might be to do with their working hours, so we tried on a weekday during Saudi working hours, but nope, it still didn’t work. The problem we faced was that after we input our card details and pressed pay, we were stuck on the loading screen until it eventually just timed itself out. Others have been able to book it from outside of the country so it wasn’t that, but I’m not sure what it exactly was. I got my friend who is based in Makkah to book ours for us. Alternatively, we could’ve purchased the tickets at the station of course to overcome this issue, but then the seat allocation may have been awkward.
Practical information
Price
We paid 172.50 SAR per person for economy class tickets. Business class tickets are 362.25 SAR per person and the cheapest economy class ticket is 119.02 SAR (depends on departure time) – these are prices for the Makkah to Madinah trip. The economy class seats are super comfortable and in all honesty greatly priced! And someone on my Instagram post mentioned that they’ve experience both and they’re both more or less the same.
Departure times
This, of course, depends on the specific destination, but generally speaking the first train leaves at around 8 am and the last one at around 9 or 10 pm. There aren’t any overnight trains at the moment.
Baggage
As a rough guideline, you’re allowed to take the same amount you’d be allowed on a plane (Saudi Airlines) and that’s including the checked in luggage. I remember seeing on TikTok people saying you can’t take checked in luggage size baggage with you and you have to cargo it out to yourself instead. This is not true. You can most definitely take it with you. We did. There may be a very slight size of luggage difference compared to that allowed on a plane, so do double check the specific measurements on their website at time of traveling. I think ours was a little bigger than what we were allowed, but here’s the thing, they don’t even check.
Check in procedure
Literally, there is no procedure. We arrived quite early, but in hindsight there was actually no need. They scan your ticket and that’s it you’re in. They don’t check your passport, they don’t scan your bags, they don’t check your bag size (as mentioned above), so it’s very smooth and easy. Of course ideally to ensure safety, they should probably scan your bags and they probably will do so eventually.
Where else can you go? Can I travel from the Jeddah airport?
They probably have future plans to enable you to visit other parts of the country and even region, but as of right now, it is essentially Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah. I think they’ve considered the pilgrims and those that are looking to travel between the two holy cities. This makes traveling from Makkah to Madinah and vice versa extremely easy and convenient especially compared to the past. You can also use this to travel from the Jeddah airport to Makkah, but you must land at an appropriate time to be able to catch this as there aren’t any overnight trains at the moment. We landed pretty late (after midnight), so we weren’t able to get on this.
How far is the station from the two mosques?
Not far at all, the taxi ride from the mosques to the station and vice versa will set you back around 30-50 SAR.
Our experience
The booking procedure was a bit frustrating due to not being able to pay and thankfully I had a friend who was in the country to help me. Of course I could’ve also booked my tickets at the station, so it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. The check in procedure was effortless and straightforward, as mentioned earlier maybe a little too effortless. All they do is scan your ticket and this takes seconds. The train was full, but the station didn’t feel overcrowded like many parts of the umrah experience, so it is quite stress free. Boarding the train was straightforward as the coaches and seats are clearly labelled. We got economy class seats and they were very comfortable. You get plenty of leg room and a wonderful view out the window (try to travel in the morning to see the views). Much more comfortable than a plane. The toilets were clean and spacious and they even have the spray gun!! Now, that’s impressive. The speed? Well, this is their greatest claim to fame, this is what they’re showing off. The highest speed is 300km per hour and it reaches that. The most amazing thing is that it doesn’t even feel like it when it does reach that speed. The smoothness of the journey itself despite the speed is astonishing and super impressive. To summarise, it felt like we were there in no time – effortless, fast and comfortable.
Slmz
Sis I’ve come across your blog through tik Tok
Insha allah we are travelling to Saudi and would like some info if you can help
We are travelling from the Uk, have a stop over at Cairo, landing at Jeddah airport.
I would like to book the train tickets but we don’t know exactly what time we will get to the station. Depending on flight arrival time, baggage etc
If I book a time slot and a miss the train can I get on the next or do I purchase another ticket.
Wa alaikumu salaam. May Allah enable you to perform an acceptable umrah and may He accept all your acts of worship. I think it’ll be best for you to book the train tickets once you are there at the station. I wouldn’t risk booking it and then missing it and hoping for them to allow you to get on the next one (they may, but I easily they may not – it’ll be a risk). Just book your tickets at the station once you get there.
Thanks for all this info, really helpful!
No worries! Hopefully it can come to some use.