16 September 2009 | A high-speed train will soon connect Istanbul with the holy Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina, which are visited by millions of Muslims each year during the Hajj pilgrimage.

The trip between Istanbul and Mecca along the Hejaz rail line will take about 24 hours, Turkish electronic media reported recently. The line was destroyed during the First World War, and it will be reconstructed now, almost a century later, as part of a joint project between Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. The four countries will connect their rail lines, thus ensuring a direct rail passage for pilgrims.

It is expected that 10 million passengers will use the rail line each year.

In Turkey, the rail line will also be extended to the border with Bulgaria, Turkish Transportation Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Suat Hayri Aka said, quoted by the Dnevnik daily newspaper.

Istanbul and Kapıkule, the Turkish frontier town in the Edirne Province on the border of Turkey and Bulgaria, will be connected by a 230-kilometre line, along which trains can travel with a speed of 250 kilometres per hour. “In this way, the Arabian Peninsula and Europe will be connected via Turkey through a modern rail line,” Aka explained.

Syria and Jordan will begin work on the project in 2010, while Saudi Arabia is expected to finish its part of the railway by 2012, Turkish media noted.

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