The Hejaz Railway (also Hedjaz, etc.) (Turkish: Hicaz Demiryolu) was a narrow gauge railway (1,050 mm (3 ft 5 1⁄3 in) track gauge) that ran from Damas
The Hejaz Railway (also Hedjaz, etc.) (Turkish: Hicaz Demiryolu) was a narrow gauge railway (1,050 mm (3 ft 5 1⁄3 in) track gauge) that ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of Arabia, with a branch line to Haifa, on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a part of the Ottoman railway network and was built in order to extend the previously existing line between Istanbul and Damascus (which began from the Haydarpaşa Terminal) all the way to the holy city of Mecca (eventually being able to reach only Medina due to the interruption of the construction works caused by the outbreak of World War I). The main purpose of the Hejaz 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, which is the yearly pilgrimage destination of the Hajj. 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 in case of need. The railway is remarkable both for having had no debt when completed and for having many miles of track below sea-level. The initial declared goal of laying the tracks all the way to Mecca was never achieved. In fact it never reached farther south than Medina, 400 kilometres (250 mi) short of Mecca. In 1913 a new station, the Hejaz Train Station, was opened in central Damascus as the starting point of the line (Damascus to Medina is 1,300 kilometres (810 mi)). Hejaz Train Station (Arabic: محطة الحجاز) is a main train station located in central Damascus, Syria close to the Marjeh Square. It was built by the Ottomans 1908 as the northern terminus of the Hejaz railway. The railway was intended to ferry pilgrims to Medina. The station's interior has a beautiful decorated ceiling. The actual platforms of the station are closed - a much-delayed pro
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Keywords: #, &, architecture, art, asia, countries#, damascus, glass, hejaz, stained, station, structures, syria, train, transit
