The main Turkish objective in the Middle East during World War I was to either capture or disable the Suez Canal, which would have put the British Empire at a great disadvantage.

[1] After his ill-fated assault on the British garrison along the canal in January–February, 1915, Jamal Pasha enlisted the help of the German engineer Heinrich August Meissner, who also planned the Hejaz Railway, to help him find a more efficient method of logistics.

The rest of the planned Egyptian branch was never completed, although Meissner managed to continue the line from Beersheba further south to Kusseima in the Sinai Peninsula.

The railway to Be'er Sheva enabled the Ottomans to quickly resupply their forces in the area, and made the station a major military center during the war.

Instead, a new station, Be'er Sheva North, was opened in the northeastern part of town in 1956, with the new railway extending from it then skirting Beersheba from the east and continuing towards Dimona.