Railways in

Jordan

Interior of one of the restored luxury carriages of the Jordan Hejaz Railway, used for special charter trains.

The first railway line in Jordan was the 1050mm gauge Hejaz Railway, opened in 1908 between Damascus and Medina (see entry for Saudi Arabia). The line was used by passenger and freight trains between the Jordanian capital, Amman, and Damascus (in Syria) until 2006 when services ceased. Following restoration work on the Jordanian section of the line, passenger services were gradually reintroduced, culminating in a weekly service of steam trains between Amman and the pilgrim destination of Daraa in Syria by 2010. Cross border services ceased the following year following the outbreak of conflict in Syria; today daily diesel hauled services operate between Amman and Al Jizah (about 35km). Trains may also be privately chartered.

The Aqaba Railway, also 1050mm gauge, opened in the 1970s for the transport of phosphates from mines in the Ma’an area to the port of Aqaba. Part of its route followed the trackbed of the southern portion of the former Hejaz Railway. The line closed in 2012 following relocation of the port facilities in Aqaba. A 14km section between Ad Disah and Shakaria, Wadi Rum, remains open for tourist excursions, typically steam hauled re-creations of a trip on the line as it was in 1916 during the First World War.

In 2025, a tripartite agreement between Jordan, Syria, and Turkey was signed for the rehabilitation of the Jordan Hejaz Railway between Al Jizah and Izraa, Syria.

in 2026, construction began on a new 360km standard gauge railway from the port of Aqaba, with branches totalling a further 43km serving potash mines at Ghor Al Safi and phosphate mines at Al Shidiya, the latter effectively replacing the former Aqaba Railway.

• Jordan Hejaz Railway operator of passenger services (Site in Arabic)
• Aqaba Port Railway Project new railway under construction (No website located at present)