Hejaz Railway - Current Status

Current Status

Two connected sections of the Hejaz Railway are in service:

• from Amman in Jordan to Damascus in Syria, as the "Hedjaz Jordan Railway" )
• from phosphate mines near Ma'an to the Gulf of Aqaba, as the "Aqaba Railway"

Workers on the railway have restored many of the original locomotives: there are nine steam locomotives in Syria and seven in Jordan in working order. Since the accession of King Abdullah II relations between Jordan and Syria have improved, causing a revival of interest in the railway. The train runs from from Qadam station in the outskirts of Damascus, not from the Hejaz Station, which closed in 2004, pending a major commercial development project. On 4 February 2009 the Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said in Riyadh regarding plans to rebuild the railway line:

The plan envisages restoration and modernization of the railway line by the Turkish government within its territory, while it calls on Syria and Jordan to rebuild their sections of line. ... On the Saudi side, they do have an ambitious plan to set up railway projects, ... So, when these four countries (Turkey, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia) come together, the entire project would be completed.

Small non-operating sections of the railway track, buildings and rolling-stock are still preserved as tourist-attractions in Saudi Arabia, including the Medina Terminus, restored in 2005 with railway tracks and locomotive shed. The old railway bridge over the Aqiq Valley though was demolished in 2005 due to damage from heavy rain the year before. Trains destroyed during the Arab Revolt of 1916-1918 can still be seen where they fell.

There are also plans by Israel Railways to rebuild the long-defunct Haifa extension, the Jezreel Valley railway, using standard gauge, with the possibility of extending it to Irbid in Jordan.

In 2009, Jordan’s transport ministry proposed a 990-mile (1590-km) $5 billion rail network, construction of which could begin in the first quarter of 2012. The planned network would initially provide freight rail links from Jordan to Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Ultimately, passenger rail connections could be extended to Lebanon, Turkey and beyond. The government, which will fund part of the project, is inviting tenders from private firms to raise the rest of the project cost.

In 2008 the "museum of the rolling stock of Al-Hidjaz Railway" opened in Damascus Khadam station after major renovations for an exhibition of the locomotives. Trains run from Khadam station on demand (usually from German, British or Swiss groups). The northern part of the Zabadani track is no longer accessible. There is a small railway museum at the station in Mada'in Saleh and a larger project is the "Hejaz Railway Museum" in Medina, which opened in 2006.