On 11 September, Türkiye, Syria, and Jordan reached an agreement to restore the Hejaz Railway. The first stage will involve the repair of a 30-kilometer section in Syria, with Türkiye assuming key responsibilities for financing and technical support. The project opens the prospect of establishing a direct railway connection between Turkish cities—most notably Istanbul—and Jordan’s port of Aqaba on the Red Sea, the country’s only maritime gateway.
The historic railway, which once linked Damascus to Medina and held significant importance for the Ottoman Empire, has re-emerged on Ankara’s agenda. For Türkiye, the initiative is not only symbolic but also a tool for strengthening its influence in the Middle East. Restoring the line offers participants the chance to expand transport and logistics potential and, in the longer term, connect Türkiye, Syria, Jordan, and eventually Saudi Arabia within a single infrastructure network.
Economically, the project aims to create new routes for passenger and freight transport, diversify logistics, and reinforce Türkiye’s role as a transit hub between Europe and Asia. Integrating the Hejaz Railway into a wider network of overland corridors complements the Middle Corridor and strengthens southern infrastructure. This expansion would cover not only consumer goods but also energy flows.
The political dimension is equally significant. For Ankara, the initiative represents a way to consolidate its presence in Syria and Jordan through economic engagement, employ instruments of soft power, and demonstrate the capacity to deliver large-scale infrastructure projects. Linking to Aqaba and potentially extending toward the pilgrimage cities enhances the cultural and religious prestige of the project, adding a symbolic layer of influence.
Yet the initiative faces considerable challenges: political instability in Syria, high reconstruction costs, and the need for tariff coordination. At present, the project embodies more strategic vision and symbolic weight than immediate economic returns.
In this context, the Hejaz Railway is comparable to another large-scale undertaking—the “Development Road” project, designed to link Türkiye’s Mardin with Iraq’s Al-Faw port. By combining a highway and railway running from Al-Faw to the Turkish border, the route would create a multimodal corridor connecting the Indian Ocean to Europe while bypassing the Suez Canal. For Türkiye, this means strengthening its transit status, bolstering political influence in the Arab world, and expanding connectivity with major global trade arteries.
These initiatives align with the concept of the Zangezur transport corridor. Zangezur emerges as a link between the Middle Corridor, the North–South route, and Ankara’s Middle Eastern projects. The Hejaz Railway provides access to the Levant and the Red Sea, while the Development Road opens the way to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.
From a strategic perspective, this evolving architecture consolidates Türkiye’s role as a central actor in the competition of transport initiatives. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, assumes the role of an interconnector, channeling transit from Central Asia and the Caspian region into Türkiye and further both westward and southward. The Zangezur corridor thus transcends its original function as a South Caucasus project and becomes a backbone for linking both historic routes, such as the Hejaz Railway, and modern highways like the Development Road. The outcome is the formation of an integrated transport network spanning Eurasia and the Middle East, with Türkiye and Azerbaijan at its core.
