Amman Hejaz Railway Station

Amman railway station is a former main railway station in central Amman, Jordan, built as part of the Hejaz railway during the Ottoman Empire. The opening of the Amman station in 1904 connected the city to Damascus and later to Medina by the time Ottoman authorities finished constructing the railway in 1908. In its early days, it helped to transform Amman from a small village into a major commercial hub in the region. Currently, the station hosts a museum dedicated to the railway, and launches tourist trips to sites within Jordan, including to the ruins of Umm el-Jimal. The terminal's area became known as Al-Mahatta, meaning 'The Station'. The Hejaz Railway was built by the Ottoman Empire between 1900 and 1908, connecting Damascus with Medina, which extended for a length of 1,302 kilometers, as well as a branch link from Deraa to Haifa. It aimed to ferry pilgrims to Mecca and link the empire's Arab provinces, thus reducing the time it takes for the journey from 40 days to a few days. The project was financed via donation from Islamic countries. Work started on the railway in 1900, from the city of Daraa westwards towards Muzayrib and southwards towards Amman. The railway connected Damascus with Amman in 1904, where several bridges had been built around the city, which still exist to this day. It continued south, reaching Ma'an in 1904, Mudawwara in 1906, and finally Medina in 1908. The railway improve economic life, with trade and transport between the Hejaz and Syria flourishing.

The opening of the Amman station in 1904 helped to transform the city from a small village into a major commercial hub in the region. Circassian entrepreneurship, facilitated by the railway, helped to attract investment from merchants from Damascus, Nablus, and Jerusalem, many of whom moved to Amman in the 1900s and 1910s. Damascene merchants bought most of the shops sold in the city the period between 1904 and 1909, which they needed to export grain from the Balqa through Amman. The Arab merchants also bought homes and relocated to live in Amman, which sent residential property prices soaring, from 2,000 Kuruş to more than 10,000 Kuruş a decade

TrainStation data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).