Hejaz Railway

Hejaz Railway, railroad between Damascus and Medina (now in Saudi Arabia), one of the principal railroads of the Ottoman Empire. The main line was highly successful, but the southern portion of that line became defunct after it sustained heavy damage during World War I. The last international section of the main line remained in operation until 2011.

Construction

The main line of the Hejaz Railway was constructed in 1900–08 as an expression of Abdülhamid II’s Pan-Islamism, which used modernization projects to strengthen the ties of the Ottoman sultanate with Muslims across and beyond the empire and counter growing European influence in the Islamic world. The main line was funded by large donations from Muslims both inside and outside Ottoman territory, ostensibly to facilitate pilgrimages to the Islamic holy places in the Hejaz region of Arabia, Mecca and Medina. But it also strengthened Ottoman control over the most distant provinces of the empire despite substantial strain on the state budget. The result was a remarkable success: the main line, which cut through difficult terrains (including mountain and desert), was constructed under budget in only eight years and spurred economic development along its 820-mile (1,320-km) stretch. The line ran from Damascus southward to Daraa (Darʿā) and thence over Transjordan via Al-Zarqāʾ, Al-Qaṭrānah, and Maʿān into northwestern Arabia, and inland via Dhāt al-Ḥajj and Al-ʿUlā to Medina. The major branch line, 100 miles (160 km) long, from Daraa to Haifa on the Mediterranean coast of Palestine, was completed in 1905.

Damage to the southern line

Even before World War I (1914–18) the Bedouins of the adjacent desert areas attacked the railway, which challenged their control over the pilgrims’ route to the holy places from the north. When the Arabs of the Hejaz revolted against Ottoman rule in 1916, the track between Maʿān and Medina was put out of operation by Arab raids, largely inspired by the British military strategist T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). After the war the operative sections of the track were taken over by the Syrian, Palestinian, and Transjordanian governments. The section of the railway running from Maʿān, Jordan, to Medina was heavily damaged and was abandoned after 1917; plans to restore the line in the 1960s were not fulfilled.

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Later operational history

In the late 20th century the northern portion of the Hejaz Railway (also called the Hejaz-Jordan Railway) between Amman and Damascus was in use and carried mostly freight. It remained in use until 2011 when the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War disrupted cross-border service between Jordan and Syria. To the south, between Amman and Wādī al-Abyaḍ, the rail line was only partly in operational condition and was not being used. From Wādī al-Abyaḍ via Maʿān to Batṇ al-Ghūl the southern continuation of the Hejaz Railway was also in use, as was the relatively new rail line (owned by the Aqaba Railway Corporation) between Batṇ al-Ghūl and Al-ʿAqabah, which opened in 1975. Phosphates from the mines at Wādī al-Abyaḍ and nearby Al-Ḥasā in Saudi Arabia were transported by rail to the port of Al-ʿAqabah on the Red Sea until 2018 as the cross-region phosphate transport shifted to other railways.

Efforts toward revival

Several attempts were made in the 21st century to revive or replace the Hejaz Railway, although efforts were slowed by the need for multiple governments to coordinate and invest in its construction amid a rapidly changing Middle East. The 2026 Iran war renewed interest in enhancing rail connectivity in the region after the conflict disrupted maritime trade through the Strait of Hormuz and exposed the vulnerability of Gulf Arab states’ export routes. In April Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sought out new export routes by land while Jordan and Syria looked to expand their rail connectivity with neighboring countries. In June Saudi Arabia and Turkey (Türkiye) signed memorandums of understanding that they hoped would facilitate the revival of the Hejaz Railway’s main line through Jordan and Syria.