The Hejaz railway (also spelled Hedjaz or Hijaz; Arabic: سِكَّة حَدِيد الحِجَاز sikkat ḥadīd al-ḥijāz or Arabic: الخَط الحَدِيدِي الحِجَازِي, Ottoman Turkish: حجاز دمیریولی, Turkish: Hicaz Demiryolu) was a narrow-gauge railway (1,050 mm / 3 ft 5+11⁄32 in track gauge) that ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of modern-day Saudi Arabia, with a branch line to Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea.

[1] It was a part of the Ottoman railway network and the original goal was to extend the line from the Haydarpaşa Terminal in Kadıköy, Istanbul beyond Damascus to the Islamic holy city of Mecca.

However, construction was interrupted due to the outbreak of World War I, and it reached only to Medina, 400 kilometres (250 mi) short of Mecca.

Other objectives were to improve the economic and political integration of the distant Arabian provinces into the Ottoman state, and to facilitate the transportation of military forces.

[3] According to Özyüksel, the Ottomans built the project in order to weaken the Arab nationalist movements and strengthen the empire's Islamist positioning.

This plan was soon dashed however, as the Amir of Mecca raised objections regarding the sustainability of his own camel transportation project should the line be constructed.

Other Ottoman officers, such as Osman Nuri Pasha, also offered up proposals for a railway in the Hejaz, arguing its necessity if security in the Arabian region were to be maintained.

[6] Many around the world did not believe that the Ottoman Empire would be able to fund such a project: it was estimated the railway would cost around 4 million Turkish lira, a sizeable portion of the budget.

The Ziraat Bankasi, a state bank which served agricultural interests in the Ottoman Empire, provided an initial loan of 100,000 lira in 1900.

The Emir Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca viewed the railway as a threat to Arab suzerainty, since it provided the Ottomans with easy access to their garrisons in Hejaz, Asir, and Yemen.

In September 1907, as crowds celebrated the rail reaching Al-'Ula station, a rebellion organized by the tribe of Harb threatened to halt progress.

The rebels objected to the railway stretching all the way to Mecca; they feared they would lose their livelihood as camel transport was made obsolete.

[9]Under the supervision of chief engineer Mouktar Bey, the railway reached Medina on 1 September 1908, the anniversary of the Sultan's accession.

[13] The Hejaz line was repeatedly attacked and damaged, particularly during the Arab Revolt, when Ottoman trains were ambushed by the guerrilla force led by T. E. Lawrence.

[citation needed] Saudi Arabia completed the construction of the Medina-Mecca line (via Jeddah) with the Haramain high-speed railway in 2018.

[2] On 4 February 2009 the Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım said in Riyadh that Turkey planned to rebuild its section, and called on Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria to come together and complete the restoration.

[citation needed] In November 2018, Middle East Monitor revealed Saudi-Israel's joint plans to revive the railway from Haifa to Riyadh.

[21] The Turkish minister of transport, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, announced in December 2024 that Turkey intends to help restore the railway in partnership with the new Syrian government.

In 2008, the "museum of the rolling stock of Al-Hejaz railway" opened in Damascus' Khadam[clarification needed] station after major renovations for an exhibition of the locomotives.

[citation needed] Small non-operating sections of the railway track, buildings and rolling stock are still preserved as tourist attractions in Saudi Arabia.