Makkah region has added final touches to the 2019 hajj plan after the company operating Makkah Mashaer monorail employed more than 15K seasonal workers to manage the masses on the train during the Hajj season.
According to the Saudi Gazette, the company operating the Mashaer train, which is under the supervision of the Authority for the Development of Makkah region, has employed as many as 15,419 seasonal workers.
Those workers will be responsible for managing the masses on the train which shuttles between Makkah and the holy sites during the Hajj season.
According to this year’s holy sites operation plan, the Mashaer train is expected to transport over 360,000 pilgrims from Mina to Arafat and then during the Nafrah from Arafat back to Mina.
Meanwhile, the total number of pilgrims who will be transported by the Al-Mashaer Train during the Tashreeq Days will exceed two million.
China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) was in charge of the construction of Makkah Light Rail. The company regained the operation contract worth US$93 million in April 2018 as approved by the Saudi government.
The light rail, which is the first railway built by a Chinese company in the Middle East, will ease congestion on the road in Hajj pilgrimage season and provide easy transportation for pilgrims as it links three main Hajj destinations.
Each year, more than two million Muslims commit to Hajj, a spiritual journey that represents the 5th Pillar of Islam and one of the largest annual human gatherings on the planet.
Every Muslim who is physically and financially able to do so is expected to make this pilgrimage once in their lifetime.
Hajj follows the Hijri lunar calendar of Islamic rituals and thus it revolves around the Gregorian year throughout the weather seasons. This year, Hajj occurs from approximately August 9 to 14.