Middle East Travels

Presenter: Iain Scotchman

Hybrid Meeting both Physically at Shenfield Parish Hall and via Zoom

Unlike Europe the Middle East is a bit of a desert when it comes to railways. However, there are some countries with significant railway infrastructure. Iain had recently visited three of these, Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arabia and gave an excellent presentation covering these territories. As usual, Iain’s photos were interesting and of excellent quality.

Jordan’s network is mainly back-boned on the Hedjaz Railway built by the Ottoman Empire from Damascus to Medina though this has been truncated in both the north and the south of the country. Passenger services are limited but there is a considerable amount of freight to be seen including a lot of Phosphate traffic.

Israel also had some lines in the north back-boned on the branches of the Hedjaz including the recently rebuilt Haifa to Beit She’an line. Elsewhere in the country, there has been a lot of rail development since 1948 culminating in numerous new stations and routes along the heavily populated coastal plain. 2018 saw the opening of the deep level Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon station on the new electrified Tel Aviv to Jerusalem line.

Saudi Arabia’s network is a mix of passenger and freight lines which includes a high-speed section from Mecca to Medina via Jeddah. Phosphate and Bauxite are the main freight flows on the North-South line with passenger services running from Riyadh to Quarayyat near the Jordanian border. There are two lines from Riyadh to Dammam one passenger and one freight with plans to link Jeddah and Riyadh with a new freight line as part of the Saudi Landbridge project.