Historical brief

The trip of pilgrim's convoys using the camels used to last (40-50) Days from Damascus toward AL-Madina (Al-Munawwara) and Mekka (Al-Mukarrama) through which the pilgrims used to sustain a lot of risks such as The attacks of the robbers, floods and epidemics in addition to the difficulty and suffering of the long traveling for which Sultan Abdel Hamid thought of Establishing a railway that would connect Damascus with Al-Madina (Al-Munawwara) and Mekka (Al-Mukarrama).

Hence, and in September, 1900, Sultan Abdel Hamid addressed a call for all The Muslims all over the world to collect donations for establishing a Railway between Damascus and the holy places to facilitate transporting the pilgrims which call was responded to enthusiastically and by the great support of all the Muslims.

In fact, the cost of the project was estimated at approx. five million Ottoman Golden Lire which were provided from:
1-the donations
2-the revenues of the Ottoman State emanated from The sale of the stamps .
3-the Ottoman Government a special tax upon all the citizens for the
railway.

In fact either, the following elements shared the reduction of the projects Cost:
1-The members of the army were used in setting the project.
2-The participation of various volunteers in the building works.
3-Donating the materials from the adjacent areas for setting the railway.

Further, the project sustained several difficulties, mainly:
1-The attacks of Bedouins in the southern areas who opposed the
project at the beginning .
2-The high degrees of temperatures.
3-The diseases sustained by the workers.
4-The non availability of close water resources.
5-The difficulty to transfer the materials to the working areas.

  Thefollowing administrative managements directed HJR:--
-Turkish Administration from 1900 to 1917.
- British Mandatory of Palestine represented in Palestine Railway Administration until 1948.
- Jordan Arab Legion from 1948 to 1950.
- Civil Jordan Administration from 1950 to 1952.