Historians recall reasons behind construction of Hejaz Railway

Historians recall reasons behind construction of Hejaz Railway

AMMAN — The Hejaz Railway was “a monumental feat of engineering and a triumph of Islamic financing over Western capital, and the last desperate act of modernity of a failing empire”, according to a British researcher. 

“This railway enhanced the status of the Ottoman Sultan as Caliph to the world’s Muslims and threatened British interests in the Middle East and India. It was built primarily as a holy or pious railway to transport Hajj pilgrims to Mecca,” said John Winterburn from Oxford University in a recent e-mail interview with The Jordan Times.

It was a single track, narrow-gauge (1.05 m), railway extending 1,302km from Damascus to Medina, Winterburn continued, noting that the construction began in 1900 and was completed in 1908.