Hedjaz Railway

The Hedjaz Railway was a 800 km (500 mile) long railway line constructed from Damascus in modern day Syria, to Medina (near Mecca) in modern day Saudi Arabia (when the line was costructed the whole region was controlled by the Ottoman Empire).

The line was constructed between 1902 and 1906 for Muslim Pilgrims to visit Mecca. Construction of the line was financed entirely by contributions from the faithful.

The line was damaged in fighting, during the First World War, and after the break up of the Ottoman Empire, never re-opened south of the Jordanian Border.

An attempt was made to re-open the line in the mid 1960s, but this was abandoned due to the Six Day War in 1967.

A section of the Hedjaz Railway still operates, in Jordan and Syria and forms the main part of the Jordanian railway system.