Damascus- Detect Damascus And Ankara On a technical cooperation to rehabilitate the rail network in Syria, and to revive the Hijazi iron line, within a move aimed at strengthening the role of iron lines in the economies of the countries of the region.
The rehabilitation of the network and its connection to the Turkish railway, according to Turkish Transport Minister Abdel Qader Uraloglu, provides a strategic passage for passengers and goods, and also supports – on another level – Syria’s efforts to rebuild what the war destroyed.
Turkish sources suggest that the first phase of the project, which costs between 50 to 60 million euros (57.11 million dollars – 68.54 million dollars), will start by rehabilitating the railway line that connects the Akbis border square station In the city of Aleppo South (established in 1908 within the East Highway project that was linking Berlin Baghdad) The war destroyed about 50 kilometers of it, while the rest of the parts are still present to the capital, Damascus.
Experts say that the rehabilitation of the network, in addition to reviving the Hijazi Iron Line project, would, after updating the old transportation networks, would reintegrate Syria into the regional system, and to constitute a nucleus to link a new regional railway, experts expect that neighboring Arab countries will join.
One regional region
The Syrian Iron Airways network, which has a length of about 2552 km, was severely damaged during the war, which lasted for nearly 14 years.
Sources in the Syrian Ministry of Transport – the Syrian newspaper “Al -Hurriya” (governmental) – indicated that work has been underway since the fall of the Assad regime to restore the existing lines and maintain them, as well as the maintenance of driving and mobile vehicles, in light of the slight capabilities and scarcity of basic materials.
The Director General of Iron Airlines, Osama Haddad, confirmed that the Directorate is working to develop a plan to restore the railway to work, through the railway linking with the Turkish Iron Airways network, in two phases, including the first (axis Aleppo – Al -Muslimiya – the shepherd) and the second (the axis.
The first months of the post -Assad stage witnessed 3 meetings between the railway officials in Turkey and Syria, the last of which was last May, during which the status of lines and the conditions of railway bridges and the stations that were damaged, and the needs of their rehabilitation were evaluated.
Haddad said – in a statement after an inspection tour of some lines with the Turkish side – that “the total damage to the lines, bridges and stations exceeds 60%, while the remainder of the network does not exceed a limited number of partially operating lines of about 1050 km,” Haddad said – in a statement after an inspection tour of some lines with the Turkish side –
Türkiye and Syria belong to one regional region, according to the map of the International Iron Airlines Federation consisting of 6 regions, and Haddad believes that the re -linking of the railway with it would be the following:
- Opening broad prospects for local business opportunities.
- Linking the eastern regions, where resources and wealth are concentrated with the national network
- Linking the diverse dense production areas in northern Syria to the international network.
Damascus trip to Medina
Syria witnessed the establishment of an iron transportation network to transport passengers and goods in an early date of the 20th century, and it occupied an advanced center, and the presence of the first train dates back to 1894, when its iron line linked the capital, Damascus, to the south of the country, and after one year, another line was opened to Damascus with the Lebanese capital. Beirut.
In 1903, the Rayak -Hama line, followed by the Hama -Aleppo line, was followed in 1906, and the Homs -Tripoli line opened in 1911.
But the most important event from the point of view of economist Ahmed Salama is the opening of the Hijazi Hijazi line in 1908, which witnessed his first passenger transfer from Damascus to AL Madinah AL Munawwarah In August of the same year, as it was a qualitative shift in the railway linking between the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, and an advanced service in terms of transporting pilgrims to the Holy Bekaa, but large parts of it were sabotaged at the end of World War I, which lost the region a transportation service that the beneficiaries of the beneficiaries have not yet been able to regain.
He pointed out – in his speech to Al -Jazeera Net – that great efforts have been made since the middle of the last century to restart it, the most prominent of which was a conference Riyadh Which included Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in 1955, and a supreme authority to manage the line, consisting of transportation ministers in the three countries, announced in 1978 its government’s agreement to establish a wide iron line, given the narrowness of the old calligraphy, and the implementation of the department located within its territories, and the feasibility of reviving the line in 2008 was re -revised, but the joint committees of the three countries did not reach a decisive decision in this regard.
In a related context, it was announced Türkiye In 2011, a plan to restart the line, which included – according to Salama – the rehabilitation of the railway path in Türkiye, Syria and Jordan, and the establishment of a fast train line linking them, takes his journey from Istanbul to Mecca About 24 hours, it works to transport more than two million passengers annually.
Although the Syrian regime responded at the time against the background of its endeavor to update the national railway network with the aim of linking Damascus to Europe through Turkey, and with the Arabian Gulf through Jordan, the war launched by the Assad regime in 2011 prevented the implementation of the plan.
Advanced vision
And technical studies conducted by specialized committees in Syria Hood On the reality of the Hijazi iron line, his need for structural amendments that qualify him to be among the global rak’ah specifications, as well as his need to restore and maintain about 40% of it due to the damage to him during the war.
For its part, the Syrian Hijazi Iron Line Foundation seeks to rehabilitate the line, in a first stage, as it looks forward to turning it into a cross -border international line, with the help of the neighboring neighboring Turkey and the Kingdom of Jordan. Amman announced last April to complete the technical disclosure work of the line of the line inside its lands, in preparation for the launch of tourist trips towards the Syrian interior, in the framework of a comprehensive vision to revive one of the most prominent historical projects in the region.
Amman coordinated with Damascus to ensure the full readiness of the path, according to a statement by the director of the Jordanian Hijazi Establishment Foundation, Zahi Khalil, who told the Jordan News Agency that the activation of the line comes within a plan to stimulate tourism, and to enhance the cultural and economic ties between Jordan and Syria.
The Turkish side – according to the Director General of the Syrian Iron Airlines Foundation, Osama Haddad – expressed unprecedented activity and interaction to support the Syrian government to rehabilitate the network, as well as its readiness to provide experts, technicians and technical information in order to accelerate the rehabilitation process.
Joint cooperation – according to Haddad – is characterized by strategic importance in light of the stimulation of commercial and tourism movement, not only for For Syria Turkey, but also with neighboring countries, at a time when the region suffers from complex economic challenges, and the two sides are counting on restarting this connection, to be a focus to enhance exchange and communication and restore the bonds of the link that linked the two peoples for decades.
The researcher and professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Damascus, Mohamed Al -Wadi, believes that the railway linking, which Syria aspires with neighboring countries, needs a program for administrative reform adopted by the General Establishment for Iron Airlines, in order to develop its tasks, activities and human and material capabilities, as well as developing its network and equipment.
The Syrian newspaper “Al -Hurriya” quoted the valley as saying that the modernization of the lines according to the specifications approved by the International Federation will increase the speed of transportation, and to improve the quality of passenger and goods transport services, which helps in the international railway linking through two axes of transportation:
- From Europe to the Syrian ports, and through Syria and Iraq to the Arabian Gulf.
- Türkiye through Syria, Jordan, and other Arab countries.
The Syrian Iron Network is connected to the north of the European rails through Türkiye, west of the Syrian -Lebanese ports, and east in Iraq at one point in the northeast, and work is underway to achieve another link Iraq In the Qaim region – Albukamal.
The link between the north and the south
In addition to the presence of national and regional projects in the Arab Gulf and Saudi Arabia, the expert in transportation and communication affairs, Hossam Al -Khaja, sees an appropriate opportunity to link these countries with the projects that are being prepared in cooperation with Syria, Turkey and Jordan, especially since Syria has today become an investment destination for companies of many of these countries.
Al -Khaja explained – in his interview with Al -Jazeera Net – that regional railway linking through international lines will enhance inter -trade exchange, due to the ease of transportation, its effectiveness, low cost, and speed of arrival, indicating that the rail transport is 30% less than the cost of other means of transportation, and a 60% less on average in terms of energy consumption.