[1] The monument was designed by Italian sculptor Raimondo D'Aronco in Istanbul in 1903 and shipped to Haifa for the opening of the railway on 15 October 1905 (which was also the sultan’s birthday).

It stands as a "reminder of the railway’s importance as a projection of the imperial authority, as well as its material value to Ottoman trade and communications".

At the base of the monument, the pedestal has carved bas-relief of a steam locomotive with tender on one side and a winged wheel on another.

An inscription in Turkish on the second level of the monument reads: "Our lord and master… Abdülhamid … has commanded the construction of a railway line from Damascus to facilitate for the nation of Muhammad the pilgrimage to the house of God (ed.

Therefore it is the duty of every Muslim who made his pilgrimage to the house of God and availed himself of the visit to the grave of the Prophet to pray to God to support the Sultan’s Grand Caliphate and to raise his hand high over the heads of the people.