Türkiye and Saudi Arabia aim to build a railway to link the two countries with Jordan and Syria in the next three or four years, a senior official said on Sunday, adding other Gulf countries would also join the project.
The railway would help alleviate in future the problems that have arisen from the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz caused by the war in Iran, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu told Al Jazeera.
The project is described in a memorandum of understanding signed between Ankara and Riyadh last week on logistics cooperation and the railway sector.
In the initial phase, a rail link would allow for the transport of goods, oil, natural gas and people between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Jordan, Syria and Europe, Uraloğlu said.
He added that the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and possibly Yemen would be included later too.
"A train leaving from Saudi Arabia, from Riyadh already reaches several regions of Saudi Arabia. So this is a project for it to reach Türkiye via Jordan and Syria," Uraloğlu was cited as saying.
"We are talking about a route that will carry every type of freight via this route to Europe," he noted.
Uraloğlu's remarks came as talks have been intensifying about the historic Hejaz Railway, which had linked Istanbul to the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, as well as Damascus and parts of Yemen.
It was originally constructed between 1900 and 1908 under Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II and stretched approximately 1,750 kilometers.
Designed to facilitate pilgrimage to Mecca, the railway also served strategic military and administrative purposes, bolstering Ottoman control over distant provinces.
Though largely dismantled or damaged during World War I and subsequent conflicts, portions of the railway remain intact and have long been the subject of restoration efforts.
Uraloğlu said the route from Saudi Arabia to Jordan's border had been finished and on the Turkish side, the link was completed from Islahiye to Kilis and Gaziantep in southeastern Türkiye, near the border with Syria.
That leaves a gap of some 400 kilometers (248.55 miles) between Syria and Jordan, he said.
In addition to commercial trade, Uraloğlu said the railway could also be used by people on the annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage.
Türkiye, which neighbors Syria, has built close ties with the government in Damascus after the fall of longtime dictator Bashar Assad at the end of 2024 and has said it will help the country rebuild.
Uraloğlu told Al Jazeera a financial plan would be drawn up for the rail project.
The investment would include some $100 million to rebuild the route between Türkiye and Syria's Aleppo, creating a direct link to Damascus.