‘Amman-Zarqa-QAIA train project to complement BRT’

AMMAN — The train project linking Amman and Zarqa to the Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) is not in competition with the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, Abdullah Malkawi, the deputy director general of the Jordan Hijaz Railway Company, said Monday. 

The project, which complements the BRT project set to link Amman and Zarqa, aims at solving the problem of transporting the residents of two of the most populated cities in the Kingdom, Malkawi said, noting that studies reveal there are more than 450,000 passengers going from and to Amman and Zarqa every day.

The BRT project cannot cater to this number of passengers alone, especially since in its first phase, it will be able to carry no more than 67,000 passengers every day, the deputy director general said, adding that the Zarqa-Amman-QAIA route is different from the route of the BRT, serving currently Awajan, Ruseifa and east Amman. 

The train and the BRT projects intersect only at Ain Ghazal station, which Malkawi said can be used as a station to exchange passengers. 

Using railways will contribute to reducing traffic jams and thus accidents, which in 2014 amounted up to 130,000 accidents resulting in the death of more than 688 people and causing JD239 million in financial losses, Malkawi said, citing official reports. 

From 2005 to 2014 accidents caused JD2.65 billion in financial losses. 

Adopting railways as the main transport means for goods and passengers will reduce the fuel bill by JD1 billion annually, in addition to reducing the road maintenance bill the government includes in the state budget, Malkawi said.