RIYADH — Eng. Khaled Sultan, undersecretary of the Public Transport Authority (PTA) for the railway sector, announced on Monday that PTA aims to increase by five times the number of jobs for Saudis in the railway sector from the existing 20,000 to 100,000. He also noted that the Haramain High Speed Railway will employ Saudi women drivers. Addressing the opening session of the Virtual Employment Fair here, he said that empowering women to work in the railway sector is one of the major components of the National Strategy for Transport and Logistics. Sultan also referred to the announcement made on Sunday by the Saudi Railway Polytechnic (SRP) to open the door for registration of Saudi women to the training program to take up jobs as drivers on the Haramain High Speed Train. Under the program, young Saudi women will be provided with necessary training to perform and fulfill their future duties as railway sector employees, including drivers. SRP has opened a registration portal on Jan. 2 for the one-year training program through the srp.edu.sa website. The last date for the registration is Jan. 13 and training classes will commence on Jan. 15. The program would enable Saudi women to operate the Haramain High Speed Train that connects Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah and Rabegh.