Dubbed "One Million Visitors", the initiative seeks to attract tourists to the Hijaz Railway Museum located at the Amman station in Al Mahatta, Jordan Hijaz Railway Corporation (JHRC) Director General Mahmoud Khazaleh said at a ceremony yesterday where Minister of Transport Alaa Batayneh launched the initiative.

Meanwhile, officials in charge of administrating the railway in Jordan said they will continue to exert efforts to highlight the railway and its historic importance, adding that trips to Syria would be increased and they will proceed with plans to operate trips to Lebanon and Turkey in the future.

Inaugurated in 1999, marking His Majesty the late King Hussein's birthday, the museum includes maps, images and tools highlighting the history of the railway, according to Khazaleh, who announced that JD100,000 had been allocated to renovate the facility.

The JHRC director general, who said plans to activate the railway between neighbouring Arab countries would be implemented soon, described it as a symbol of the Great Arab Revolt and a historical landmark of Jordan.

The corporation was established in 1952 to administer and maintain the track within Jordan.

Workers at the Amman station expressed hope that the project would be brought back to life.

"The steam engine and the carriages are like my children. I hope to see the railway flourish and regain its former glory," Kheireddine Saeed told The Jordan Times yesterday.

"Both the train and the track are old and need to be refurbished... I want this railway to become like the advanced railroads in the West," added Saeed, who has been working with the corporation for 45 years.

His colleague Mahmoud Mohammad Ali, who has been at the Amman station for 14 years, also expressed his attachment for the train.

"We take care of the railway as we take care of our children. It is an important landmark in Jordan and it should be given more attention because it is a part of our Arab and Islamic heritage that should not be forgotten with the passage of time."

The Hijaz Railway was built a century ago at an estimated cost of five million Ottoman gold liras.

In September 1900, Sultan Abdul Hamid called on Muslims across the world to collect donations for establishing a rail track between Damascus and the holy sites in Saudi Arabia to facilitate the transport of pilgrims.

Construction started the same year with a wire telegraph line alongside the track connecting Damascus with Medina, via Amman.

The 1,303km-long track reached Medina in 1908, but never made it to Mecca because work was eventually interrupted by the outbreak of World War I.

Its first trip to Saudi Arabia set off on August 20 of that year, carrying a large number of Arab pilgrims for the Hajj - a 60-hour trip.

Prior to that, pilgrims would travel in convoys, for 60-odd days on camel, braving robbers, floods and disease.

By Mohammad Ghazal

© Jordan Times 2008

 

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