Dammam-Saudi Railway Company’s (SAR) mine trains hit record high for the third consecutive month as their phosphate and Bauxite transfer quantities exceeded the threshold of 751,000 tons in August.

Rail freight, which is affiliated with SAR, has transferred around 16 million tons of phosphate and bauxite ores from the day it was operated until August.

Also, SAR’s mine railroad represents the major railway line since the trains that transfer metal ores run 1,395 km from phosphate mines in Hazem al-Jalamid north KSA and bauxite mines central KSA to Ras al-Khair, which is known as the Minerals Industrial City, in order to supply phosphate and aluminum smelter plants with metal ores.

On the other hand, SAR is owned by the Public Investment Fund, an investment arm of Saudi Ministry of Finance, which invested around $5.6 billion (SR 21 billion) in this company.

For his part, Operations Manager at SAR Eng. Khaled al-Harbi revealed that these transfers were made through 67 trips on the mine railway line, which is affiliated with North–South Railway network, established and operated by SAR.

Eng. Al-Harbi explained that the total of what was transferred from phosphate and bauxite starting from the operational year 2016 has exceeded 4,500,000 tons up till August, adding that phosphate trains have transferred 410,000 tons in 35 trips and bauxite trains have transferred 341,000 tons in 32 trips.

He noted that the numbers recorded in August are considered the highest in the operational history of the company.

He said: “This continuous development in the freights came with SAR’s commitment to provide the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) with all what it needs from metal ores to supply its plants in the Minerals Industrial City, Ras al-Khair.”

The Operations Manager also said that SAR has worked since the beginning of operating the rail freight line on boosting its operational powers in order to reach this monthly range, thus fulfilling its obligations towards its strategic client Maaden.