Hejaz Railway revival moves forward
At a technical meeting of the transport ministries of Turkey, Syria and Jordan held on 11 September in Amman, the first steps were taken to reactivate the historic Hejaz Railway. Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu (Abdulkadir Uraloğlu) outlined the decisions in a written statement.
He said that with Turkey's support, the parties agreed to complete the remaining 30 kilometers of superstructure on the line inside Syria. Jordan will examine its technical capacity to maintain, repair and operate locomotives, including the possibility of running its Hejaz Railway locomotives to Damascus.
With Turkey's support, we agreed to complete the remaining 30 kilometers of the Hejaz Railway superstructure in Syria. The Jordanian side will study the technical capabilities for locomotive maintenance and operations, and will assess operating its Hejaz Railway locomotives as far as Damascus.
Agreements and a joint roadmap
The three delegations reached preliminary consensus on a draft memorandum of understanding covering multi-faceted transport cooperation. The document is expected to be signed at a ministerial meeting later this year, with trilateral technical working groups to be set up for roads, railways and transport corridors in the first phase.
An action plan to implement the memorandum's targets is also in preparation, to be drafted by Turkey, shared with the other parties and finalized before the ministerial. In the medium and long term, the three countries plan training and technical knowledge-sharing in railways independently of the Hejaz project.
Road freight to resume and Red Sea connectivity
Another key outcome was the resumption of road transport between Turkey and Jordan via Syria after a 13-year hiatus. The countries also agreed to take facilitative measures for mutual cross-border truck movements within national regulations.
They discussed transport corridors to strengthen Turkey's connectivity to the Red Sea via Aqaba Port. Joint technical studies will be carried out to improve Syria's and Jordan's access to international corridors through Turkey.
