The first Middle Eastern high-speed railway sees a 28,000 sign up from women to get a train driver position

photo: https://www.khaleejtimes.com/gulf/job-ad-for-women-train-drivers-gets-28000-applicants-in-saudi-arabia/The first Middle Eastern high-speed railway sees a 28,000 sign up from women to get a train driver position

For the first time in Saudi Arabia’s history, women have access to this position. Around 14,000 of them have passed the first online phase out of 28,000 who all signed up in just one month. They will be the drivers of trains on the first high-speed railway built in the Middle East between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

The ages of the candidates were between 22 and 30 years. For those 14,000 more tests and a personal interview is on the way, after which almost a year-long training will start. Training will be done in the Mecca Medina High-Speed Spanish Consortium in the Line Operations Center (OCC).

These paid training lessons should start around March 15^th and will include both theoretical and practical classes staffed by Renfe employees. This won’t be the first Renfe training for Saudi train drivers. Between 2013 and 2014 the first drivers were trained at the Renfe Professional Technical School of Driving and Operations in Madrid. This effort was done as a result of an agreement signed with the Saudi Railway Polytechnic (SRP) to provide theoretical training at its Qassim facilities. More than 80 local train drivers have been trained by Renfe and another 50 are still being trained. 400 more employees have Renfe hired and trained for the Commercial and Operations departments.

Renfe and the companies of the Consortium are doing a great service to Saudi society, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. The governor of the Al Qassim region, Prince Faisal bin Mishaal al Saud, and the Minister of Transportation, Saleh bin Naser al Yaser, presented the Spanish consortium with an award for contributing to the training and certification of hundreds of local railway professionals.