Vision 2023 lets Saudi women drive trains

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) Sunday shared a video of 24 Saudi women who completed the training to drive the high-speed train Harman Express, one of the fastest trains in the world.

The video of Saudi women driving a train shared on Twitter had gone viral on social media.

The shared video is captioned as, “32 Saudi female leaders set off at full speed to fulfill their great dream of driving one of the fastest trains in the world, thus becoming the first batches”.

32 قائدة سعودية ينطلقن بأقصى سرعة لتحقيق حلمهن الكبير في قيادة أحد أسرع قطارات العالم ليكنّ بذلك أولى دفعات #قائدات_قطار_الحرمين_السريع . pic.twitter.com/zWGA5DbsuT

— الخطوط الحديدية السعودية | SAR (@SARSaudiRailway) January 1, 2023

Noorah Hisham, a Saudi woman who completed the training on behalf of the Saudi Railways, said that my colleagues and I were the first to have the honor of running a high-speed train in the Middle East, she also added, “Driving a train is a great responsibility”.

Another female train driver, Shajan Al-Mursi, stated that the safety of pilgrims on Hajj, Umrah and Ziaraat is the responsibility of the Haramin Express driver.

Shajin added: “It is a matter of great pride to be part of the first group to receive train driving training, and I will serve the homeland by driving the Haramin Express train”.

Bashir Al-Ghamdi, another Saudi female train driver said, the training was given in such a way as if we were driving a train in real.

Mahnd Shakir Mallah, train driver and trainer responsible for the training of Saudi women, informed that during the training, full care was taken to ensure that the female drivers could maintain the standards of peace and security while driving the Harman Express.

Shakir further said: “Our effort is to ensure that Harmaen Express reaches every station on time without any delay or accident”.

It is pertinent to note that Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman had taken many historic and extraordinary steps as soon as he assumed office, including making women independent under Vision 2023.

Under Vision 2023, women are allowed to drive, work, participate in sports and travel abroad alone.