Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu announced on 23 September that Turkiye, Syria, and Jordan agreed to revive the Hejaz railway, the Ottoman-era line once stretching 1,750 kilometers from Istanbul to the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
“The historic Hejaz Railway is being revived,” Uraloglu declared, describing the outcome of a tripartite meeting in Amman earlier this month. He confirmed that the three sides have prepared a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) covering full cooperation on transport infrastructure.
Turkiye is committed to finishing 30 kilometers of missing superstructure on the Syrian stretch of the line. Jordan will evaluate its technical ability to repair and operate locomotives inside Syrian territory. Joint technical studies are also planned to create a corridor from Turkiye through Syria into Jordan, granting access to the Red Sea via the Port of Aqaba.
As part of the same framework, road transport between Turkiye and Jordan through Syria will restart after being halted for 13 years.
That suspension ended in December with the ousting of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, whose removal cleared the way for renewed connectivity between the three West Asian countries.
“While preserving our region’s historical heritage, we are also establishing strong cooperation in international transport corridors,” Uraloglu said.
“We will continue to work toward a shared future in transportation,” the minister added.
The Hejaz railway was first constructed under Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II between 1900 and 1908.
It extended about 1,750 kilometers, linking Istanbul with Mecca and Medina, as well as Damascus and Yemen.
Built for pilgrimage and imperial consolidation, the route included viaducts, desert stations, and narrow-gauge tracks adapted to harsh terrain.
Much of the line was dismantled or damaged in World War I, leaving fragments that successive governments sought to restore.
The announcement forms part of a wider shift in regional ties since the ouster of Assad.
Turkiye, which recently began training Syrian forces under a security deal signed with Damascus in August, has cast itself as the main foreign beneficiary and quickly sent its foreign minister to the Syrian capital.
Ankara also promoted voluntary refugee returns and established coordination mechanisms with Syrian authorities, though the exodus of labor has strained Turkish industries.
Jordan has also been deepening cooperation with Syria after the ousting of Assad and the current self-appointed Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s sudden rise to power, signing agreements on Yarmouk River water sharing and border security.
Amman reported a decline in arms and drug trafficking as joint committees and airstrikes targeted cross-border smuggling hubs, part of the security cooperation that followed Sharaa's assumption of power.
Together, these developments underscore how Turkiye, Syria, and Jordan are repositioning their cooperation, with the Hejaz project standing as both a symbol of Ottoman-era continuity and a practical step toward renewed integration.