Turkey's Plan to Revive the Historic 'Anatolia-Hijaz' Railway via Syria

Abdul-Baqir Uraloglu, Turkey's Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, has announced the country's plan to revive the historic 'Anatolia-Hijaz' railway through Syria. On Wednesday, January 2, he stated that this project is not just a restoration of an old railway, but a 'reconnection of a historical and cultural heritage.' He further emphasized that Syria urgently needs to rebuild its transport infrastructure, particularly highways, airports, and roads, and 'as a first step, we intend to revive the Turkish railway to Damascus.' The Turkish network 'TRT' also reports that the top priority is connecting the railway from Istanbul to Damascus, and the Turkish government has dispatched a team of experts to Syria for an initial assessment of the project. More than a century after the launch of the Damascus-Medina railway by the Ottoman Empire and its decommissioning during World War I, Turkish officials are now discussing their plans to revive this route. The order to construct this 1300-kilometer railway was issued during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II, the Ottoman Emperor, in the spring of 1900, and the project was built with the help of German engineers over eight years. Although the initial goal of this project was to reduce the travel time for pilgrims to Mecca and Medina from 40 days to 5 days, this railway was also used for cargo transport and served as a strategic route for deploying troops and military equipment during World War I and the Hijaz revolt against the Ottoman Empire. At that time, Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia were part of the Ottoman Empire and were located along this railway route. Although parts of this railway remained operational after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War I and even after World War II, it was completely decommissioned in 1975. Uraloglu described the reconstruction of the Istanbul-Damascus section as part of a larger vision to strengthen regional and international transport networks, stating that the restoration of the entire Damascus-Hijaz railway would enhance Turkey's position in global transit. Turkey had previously initiated a $17 billion transit project from the Grand Faw Port in Iraq in the Persian Gulf to the Turkish border, and two months ago, the Ankara government unveiled a $20 billion financial package to complete the Turkish section of this 2000-kilometer railway to Europe. Several international banks, including the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, are participating in financing this massive transit project. Turkey is also part of the largest land transit route known as China's 'Belt and Road' towards the West (China-Central Asia-Caucasus-Turkey), and overall, Turkey's logistics services in land, sea, and air generated approximately $65 billion in revenue in 2023, expected to increase to $77 billion by 2028.