Jordan
Evan Qu wenhong / Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · cropped
Jordan covers 89,341 km² of the southern Levant, with about 10.4 million people and its capital at Amman, the most populous city in the Levant. Syria lies to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and Palestine to the west along the Jordan Rift Valley, where the river runs down into the Dead Sea — at about 430 m below sea level, the lowest land surface on earth. Most of the country is desert plateau; the fertile strip is the western highlands, and the only coast is a short frontage on the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea.
Jordan's railways are both descendants of one line: the Ottoman Hejaz Railway, opened through Transjordan in 1908 to carry pilgrims from Damascus towards Medina. There are about 507 km of it, built to the Hejaz's unusual 1,050 mm gauge. The phosphate line to the port of Aqaba closed in 2018, and the through service to Damascus ended with the Syrian civil war. What remains in passenger use is the Hejaz Jordan Railway, running out of Amman towards Jiza, Zarqa and Mafraq — operated by a government corporation that publishes its own departure times.
Rail journeys in Jordan
Good to know
What was the Hejaz Railway?
A pilgrim railway. It was built from 1900 under Ottoman rule to carry the hajj from Damascus to Medina, cutting a journey of weeks by camel to a few days by train. It reached Medina in 1908 and never got to Mecca. During the Arab Revolt of 1916–18 it was attacked repeatedly, and most of the line south of Jordan has been derelict ever since. The Jordanian section is the part that kept running.
Why is the gauge 1,050 mm?
Because the Ottomans chose it for the Hejaz line and nothing has changed since. It is an unusual measurement — narrower than metre gauge by five centimetres — and it means Jordan's railway cannot exchange rolling stock with the standard-gauge networks around it. Syria's own network is 1,435 mm, which is one reason the cross-border working was never a simple through service.
Can you still take a train to Damascus?
No. The Jordan–Syria rail link closed as a result of the Syrian civil war and has not been restored. The Hejaz Jordan Railway's passenger services run inside the country only, between Amman and points north and south of it.
Are there rail passes for Jordan?
No. Jordan belongs to no pass scheme and there is no multi-journey ticket. Seats are booked through the railway corporation directly. Note that its website is in Arabic only — there is no English version — so English-speaking travellers generally arrange trips through a hotel or a local agency.