The Turkish transport and infrastructure minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu has been busy doing business in the Middle East. This week, he visited Saudi Arabia, where a new agreement on the Türkiye-Syria-Jordan-Saudi Arabia railway was signed. Türkiye has generated plenty of exposure for the so-called Hejaz Railway, but some practical challenges make it an unlikely short-term project.
The Hejaz Railway used to be a functional rail corridor during Ottoman times. That time is long gone. Yet, the current global economic and political dynamism and the associated risks have drawn new attention to the railway.
With Syria’s former dictator Assad out of the picture, there is an opportunity for a renewed Hejaz Railway and geographically diversified logistics in the Near East.
A revival of the Hejaz railway could extend the reach of rail infrastructure to the Red Sea by improving transportation capacity to Jordan’s Aqaba port (the light blue dot on the map above). That would create a direct overland link between the Red Sea and Türkiye, and by extension to Europe.
Türkiye, Syria and Jordan have created joint plans and signed agreements, and Saudi Arabia has also expressed interest as of late. That sounds promising, but a glaring issue remains: Syria is not at all ready to host an international rail corridor.
An insurgency in the south
Despite the replacement of Assad’s dictatorial regime by a less authoritarian government, Syria is far from stable. The government in capital city Damascus does not exert full control over the country’s internationally recognised territory.
A key region is Syria’s south. The Hejaz Railway would run through here in order to connect to Jordan’s rail network. The region is inhabited by the Druze, which are in a more or less active conflict with Damascus. This makes the rehabilitation of old rail infrastructure and active rail operations impossible.
The situation is complicated by the involvement of Israel, which pursues its own interests in Syria and has opted to throw its weight behind the Druze. It seems unlikely that Syria can reassert control over this essential region for the Hejaz Railway until Israel’s support for the Druze subsides.
Smuggling and ISIS
At the same time, the power struggle in the region has set conditions favourable for illicit trade. As a result, southern Syria is currently a major hub for weapons and drug smuggling networks. International partners will shy away from operating in the region due to these operational risks. The Jordanian Air Force (yes, the country that is supposed to be connected to Syria via the Hejaz Railway) now often conducts airstrikes and intense aerial surveillance along the border as well.
Unfortunately, Syria’s challenges do not end there. For instance, the United States has recently withdrawn its troops from its military base in the east of Syria, which has sparked concerns for a resurgence of ISIS in the country.
Even if these security concerns were to be resolved, current commitments by Türkiye and Jordan still do not make a rail-only corridor possible. Türkiye has proposed to build 30 kilometres of missing tracks, while Jordan wants to help with locomotive maintenance and repair. The missing capacity would need to be covered by the road — making the Hejaz Railway less of a railway, and more of a multimodal corridor, provided the terminal infrastructure is also in place.