Saudi Arabia and Turkey have reaffirmed their desire to restore and rebuild the historic Hejaz Railways that linked Damascus with the holy city of Madinah by a narrow-gauge rail line. The Hejaz rail line was used by pilgrims travelling from Istanbul to the Prophet’s Mosque via the Syrian capital. The plan, the first since the Six-Day War interrupted a similar project in 1967, would extend the reach of the railway to its original but never completed southernmost destination: Makkah. World War I put an end to the rail line shortly after its completion in 1913.
The new plan would, if completed as envisioned, connect Istanbul to Makkah. No time frame for the implementation of this multinational project was provided, though it is speculated that it could be completed in five years. A contract to convert the narrow-gauge line to standard gauge was signed in Jordan last year, where a portion of the rail line is still in use in the south of the country.