A Corridor to Bypass Hormuz
Turkey's transport and infrastructure minister said on 3 June 2026 that Ankara aims to revive the historic Hejaz railway and extend it to Oman, creating an overland trade corridor that would offer an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. He linked the push to heightened Gulf tensions that have disrupted shipping through the strait.
Syria's Central Segment
Syria sits at the heart of the plan. The minister said the first phase would connect a line from Turkey to Aleppo, while the Aleppo–Damascus–Jordan stretch already exists, and pointed to reopening the Damascus–Amman segment of the old line.
He had earlier outlined a $110 million plan to extend the existing railway to Aleppo, and said crews had completed repairs on 350 kilometers of track along the Turkish-Syrian border that had gone undone between 2011 and 2024.
Trilateral Groundwork
On 7 April 2026, the transport ministers of Syria, Jordan and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding to develop transport and logistics links by road, sea and rail, establishing joint committees and a three-year program.
Syria's transport minister said at the time that the country had prepared the initial map for the rail connection, describing the memorandum as the basis for launching major strategic projects, the Hejaz line foremost among them.
Part of a Wider Network
The minister tied the railway to the "Development Road," a 1,200-kilometer route running from the Faw port on the Gulf in Iraq to the Turkish border. The project is to be built with international financing and a partnership among the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq and Turkey, and is to carry energy and telecommunications lines alongside road and rail.
Regional Backdrop
The plans have gained urgency since a war that broke out on 28 February between the United States and Israel on one side and Iran on the other, after which Washington blockaded Iranian ports and Tehran restricted passage through Hormuz. The original Hejaz railway, built between 1900 and 1908, ran roughly 1,322 kilometers from Damascus toward Medina.