The Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro line, ( qtar al mashaaer al muqaddassah al khat diljanubi) is a metro line in the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Claimed to have the highest capacity of any metro in the world, it operates for seven days a year, and is used exclusively as a shuttle train for pilgrims between holy sites in Mecca, Mount Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina to reduce congestion caused by thousands of buses and cars during the Hajj. It is the second metro system on the Arabian Peninsula, after the Dubai Metro (although, with its limited open hours, some consider it more of a shuttle train service). The line opened on 13 November 2010, in time for the Hajj 1431 between 25–29 November 2010. It was built separately from, and will not be physically linked to, the future Mecca Metro network. Services Before completion, Saudi officials estimated the line would replace 53,000 buses, promising a safer, more comfortable pilgrimage. By the time of the 2011 Hajj (Hajj 1432) it was able to operate at 100% capacity and is estimated to have carried more than 3.95 million passengers making it, for that period, the most intensively used metro line in the world and among the busiest systems in the world. Each 12-car train carries 3,000 passengers and the headway is 150 seconds (24 trains per hour). In peak periods the line operates with a special "group shuttle" schedule, better known as train movement "D", with three departure stations and three arrival stations. (At each holy site on the line there are three stations.) At off-peak times stopping-all-stations service is run, with various movements "A", "B", "C" and "E". Tickets are 250 riyals, except the last day when they are 100 riyals. Operation contracts In March 2010, Serco Middle East was awarded a contract by China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) to advise on the operation and maintenance of the Makkah Metro. CRCC had been awarded the design, build, operate and maintain contract in 2008 by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs. In November 2014, Metro project promoter Makkah Mass Rail Transit Co has selected Kuala Lumpur transport agency Prasarana to provide consultancy services during Phase 1 of the Makkah Public Transport Programme. Phase 1 covers the construction of two metro lines totalling 45.1 km and 22 stations, with commissioning scheduled by 2019. During the 2014 Hajj, staff from Prasarana