SAUDI ARABIA: After receiving 28 000 applications from women for 30 high speed train driving vacancies, Renfe is about to begin training the successful candidates. According to the Spanish operator, the first trains to be driven by Saudi women should be running between Makkah and Madinah on the Haramain high speed line by the end of this year.
The 30 successful candidates, who are aged between 22 and 30 years old, underwent a ‘rigorous selection process’ that enabled Renfe to whittle down the original number of applicants.
Subject to passing the mandatory occupational health examination, they will embark on the training programme, which will involve 1 200 hours of theoretical and practical teaching delivered by Renfe staff at the Haramain Operations Centre in Jeddah from March 13. The training programme is expected to last approximately a year.
