Qurayyat operated by SAR with a modern rail station located at the northeast of the city. There is a train station in Buraidah with direct trains to Riyadh, Majmaa and Hail and from their to Jouf as well. The Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz International Airport West of buraidah was built in 1964 and was expanded in 1964 over an area of 55,000 km2 with a capacity of 550,000 passengers. In 2009, international flights were launched. Flights to Dubai, Istanbul, Manamah, Kuwait and Cairo are scheduled regularly along with domestic destinations. Climate Buraidah has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), with long, extremely hot summers and short, very mild winters. Precipitation is very low, which falls almost entirely between November and May, leaving summers extremely dry. Population The city has experienced very high rates of population growth. Buraidah officially counted population in the city limits in 2010 was 614,093. Education Public schools General Administration of Education in Qassim region enrolls over 118,589 students in primary, intermediate and high public schools in Buraidah. These students are enrolled in 381 primary schools, 211 intermediate schools and 131 public high schools. 9754 students are enrolled in 77 private schools. There are number of international schools in Buraidah as well as many private kindergartens. Colleges and universities Qassim University is the largest higher educational institution in Al-Qassim region located in the west of Buraidah where more than 70,000 undergraduate and graduate students attend 38 colleges. Qassim University is among Saudi Arabia's largest 29 public Universities in terms of number of students. Besides Qassim University, There are three private higher education establishments in Buraidah. Mustaqbal University is a private university where 1234 undergraduate students study in engineering, computer science, dentistry, and administrative and human sciences colleges. Buraydah Colleges is another private higher education establishment where 2987 undergraduate students are enrolled in four faculties focused in dentistry, applied medical science, engineering and information technology, and administrative and human sciences colleges. The third private higher education institute is Al-Ghad International Health Sciences Colleges. Vocational training colleges In addition to the technical training high school, there are Buraidah College of Technology and the College of Food and Environment Technology which are two technical colleges managed by TVTC. Also, there are the International Technical Colleges operated in cooperation between TVTC and Laureate Vocational Saudi Arabia. Saudi Railway Polytechnic is a unique vocational training institute for railway technology located