page_title: Hejaz railway
hierarchical_section_title: Hejaz railway
caption_attribution_description: English: 1050mm gauge 2-8-0 steam locomotive, built by Schweizerische Locomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik Winterthur for the Hejaz Railway in 1912, transferred to Palestine Railways by 1927 and pictured in 1946
context_page_description: The Hejaz railway was a narrow-gauge railway 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. It was a part of the Ottoman railway network and the original goal was to extend the line from the Haydarpaşa Terminal in Kadikoy beyond Damascus to the holy city of Mecca. However, construction was interrupted due to the outbreak of World War I, and it reached no further than Medina, 400 kilometres short of Mecca. The completed Damascus to Medina section was 1,300 kilometres.
  The main purpose of the railway was to establish a connection between Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the seat of the Islamic Caliphate, and Hejaz in Arabia, the site of the holiest shrines of Islam and the holy city of Mecca, the destination of the Hajj annual pilgrimage. Another important reason was to improve the economic and political integration of the distant Arabian provinces into the Ottoman state, and to facilitate the transportation of military forces.
context_section_description: The Hejaz (or Hedjaz or Hijaz) railway (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. It was a part of the Ottoman railway network and the original goal was to extend the line from the Haydarpaşa Terminal in Kadikoy beyond Damascus to the holy city of Mecca. However, construction was interrupted due to the outbreak of World War I, and it reached no further than Medina, 400 kilometres (250 mi) short of Mecca. The completed Damascus to Medina section was 1,300 kilometres (810 mi).
  The main purpose of the railway was to establish a connection between Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the seat of the Islamic Caliphate, and Hejaz in Arabia, the site of the holiest shrines of Islam and the holy city of Mecca, the destination of the Hajj annual pilgrimage. Another important reason was to improve the economic and political integration of the distant Arabian provinces into the Ottoman state, and to facilitate the transportation of military forces.
caption: SLM in Switzerland built a class of ten 2-8-0 locomotives for the Hejaz railway in 1912, numbered 87–96. They were later renumbered 150–159. Several were captured in 1918 by British and Empire forces or transferred in 1927 to Palestine Railways, which had taken over the Hejaz railway's Jezreel Valley branch in 1920. 153 (formerly 90) was transferred in 1927 and is pictured on the Jezreel Valley railway in 1946.
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