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New 180 kmph train to link Riyadh and Dammam

August 16, 2014

RiyadhDammamRiyadh, Aug 16: Four new passenger trains will join the current fleet between Riyadh and Dammam beginning November this year.

Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) President Mohammed Al-Suwaiket said the Riyadh-Al-Kharj rail service would be commissioned during next year.

The first of the four trains is to arrive in the Kingdom toward the end of November and the others would follow a month after, said Al-Suwaiket.

The trains are being manufactured in Spain by CAF, a leading global rolling stock manufacturer. The train, which will arrive shortly, is being given the final touches by the manufacturer.

The high-speed train, which would run at a velocity of 180 kmph, will be initially deployed between Riyadh and Dammam. Subsequently, the trains will be used from Dammam to Al-Ahsa and Riyadh to Al-Ahsa.

The new trains will be an improved version of the previous locomotives, and have increased passenger capacity, luggage facility. They could run up to 180 kmph even during extreme weather.

“Rail transport is a vital support to growth and development in any country,” said Al-Suwaiket.

“While the Saudi economy is the largest in the Middle East and one of the 25 largest worldwide, the Kingdom is experiencing significant development in the railway sector,” said the SRO chief.

“SRO is working very hard to provide the best services within the current operational structure. However, the government, realizing the value rail transport adds to national development, launched a number of initiatives to bring this vital service on par with the developmental needs of the country,” he said.

These initiatives include major expansion projects to connect the Western Region with the Eastern Region, the Northern with the Central, and to link the holy places as well as the Kingdom with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states,” he said.

The new initiatives also include moving toward privatizing SRO and opening the door for national and foreign investments in it to bolster its ability to support national development, Al-Suwaiket said.

The SRO has drawn up a master plan in cooperation with the German International Cooperation (GIZ).

The Saudi Railway Master Plan 2010-2040 (SRMP) is to have a conceptual framework in place for the longterm development of a future passenger and freight transport network for Saudi Arabia.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

Dubai, Jul 28: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) (ADCB.AD) is letting go hundreds of employees, sources said, the latest in a round of lay-offs by regional banks as pressure mounts to cut costs amid lower oil prices and the coronavirus crisis.

The UAE’s third-biggest lender is laying off 400 employees, two sources familiar with the matter said, after it had committed to not cutting staff because of the crisis.

In a statement, a spokesman said ADCB had pursued efficiency over the last decade by managing out its lowest underachievers after regular reviews, while ensuring talent was deployed in high-growth areas, such as digital banking.

“A certain number of redundancies are therefore expected every year in the normal course of business,” the bank spokesman added.

The sources said the cuts would involve ADCB’s consumer business and several in top management were among those being let go. One source said the bank was looking to close 20 branches.

In March, ADCB had declared, “No employee will be made redundant during 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

UAE banks have been hit by government measures to rein in the spread of the virus, forcing many businesses to shut temporarily.

Last week, Dubai’s largest bank, Emirates NBD, reported a slump of 58% in profits. In June, sources told Reuters the bank started a new round of hundreds of lay-offs.

In May, ADCB reported a fall of 84% in first-quarter net profit as it took impairments of $292 million on debt exposure to troubled hospital operator NMC Health and payments group Finablr.

It was a major lender, with an exposure of about $981 million, to NMC Health, which went into administration this year after months of turmoil following questions over financial reporting.

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Agencies
April 26,2020

Riyadh, Apr 26: The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia has issued an order to partially lift the curfew in all regions of the Kingdom, to become from 9am to 5pm, starting Sunday through Wednesday May 13, while keeping a 24-hour curfew in the holy city of Makkah and in previously isolated neighbourhoods, state news agency (SPA) said early on Sunday.

The order also allowed the opening of some economic and commercial activities, which include wholesale and retail shops in addition to malls.

They can operate for two weeks, beginning on April 29 (Wednesday) until May 13 (Ramadan 6-20), however, certain shops within malls like beauty clinics, barber salons, gyms, cinemas, and restaurants will continue to be restricted from reopening.

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News Network
May 25,2020

May 25: A total of 241 Indians including 136 people who were jailed in Kuwait would return to the country soon, a senior minister said on Sunday.

The other 105 people were stranded in Bangladesh, Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath said.

"Altogether 136 people from Tripura and Assam, who are at present in jail in Kuwait for violating that country's laws, would be deported. They will reach Guwahati between May 27 and June 4 in a special flight," Nath told reporters.

He said the matter has been officially informed by the Kuwaiti government, but the reason for their imprisonment is not known.

"We had requested the Kuwaiti authorities to drop the Tripura residents here. However, they informed us that the flight would land in a single airport," the minister added.

Nath said 105 residents of Tripura, who are stranded in different places of Bangladesh will return to the state through the Agartala-Akhaura integrated check post on May 28.

"They would be taken to institutional quarantine and swabs of all the passengers would be collected for COVID-19 test," Nath said.

If the report of their samples tests negative, they would be allowed to leave the facility and remain under 14 days of home quarantine. And those who test positive would be hospitalized, he said.

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