Publicity:
It was one of the great train journeys of the world.
Built by the Turkish Ottoman Empire the Hejaz railway transported thousands of pilgrims on the 1300 kilometre trip from Syrias capital Damascus to Medina, in what is now Saudi Arabia.
The First World War saw significant stretches of the Hejaz railway destroyed by the legendary Lawrence of Arabia and his Bedouin fighters.
Now an ambitious plan is underway to resurrect the railway to reclaim it from the ravages of the desert.
Jordans Prince Hassan bin Talal, supports the rebuilding of the railway. He told Foreign Correspondents Mark Willacy the railway was a bridge of ideas, and a bridge of peace.
While Jordan is going full steam ahead not all the governments in the region feel the same.
Hampering the reconstruction effort are hoards of treasure hunters who have been digging under the tracks for rumoured hidden gold.
Among those most keen to see the Hejaz railway work again are the descendants of Lawrences Bedouin fighters. They still attack the train but these days its a show for tourists.
Damascus dawn Music 00:00
Train at Kanawat station
WILLACY: Its the end of the line for this old steam locomotive. But 98 years ago when the Kanawat Station was opened, it was the starting point for Muslims taking the annual Hajj pilgrimage from here in Damascus, to Medina in Saudi Arabia. This line was also vital for the defence of the Ottoman Empire, and when it crumbled, so too did the Hejaz Railway.
00:16 Damascus streets Music
00:40
WILLACY: Nearly a century after its inception theres now an ambitious plan to restore the historic Hejaz Railway line.
Music 01:05
WILLACY: Damascus lays claim to being the worlds oldest continuously inhabited city, but in the present climate its unlikely to be inundated by foreign visitors.
01:09
Railway workshop
These days the Hejaz railway begins here at Qadem station on the outskirts of Damascus.
01:28
Hassan Kharat, a Syrian tour guide, is leading a group of European tourists around the old workshops.
01:35
Hassan Hassan: Syria is the birth place of human civilisation and here many civilisations existed. It is attractive and pleasurable for many visitors. These people have an interest because many of these old trains were made in Switzerland or Germany.
01:46
Steam train winds through countryside
Music
02:06
WILLACY: This is Syrias selling point -- a spectacular ride as the old train winds its way along one of the most beautiful stretches of the Hejaz through the picturesque Yarmouk valley.
02:18
Music
02:29
WILLACY: This line attracted the attention of British Lieutenant-Colonel T.E. Lawrence -- the famous Lawrence of Arabia and his band of Bedouin guerrillas during the first World War.
02:40
Train crosses bridge/Children watch
And this was their target -- the main Yarmouk Valley Bridge -- an enormous steel structure spanning the river below. Thankfully for these train buffs the attempt by Lawrence to blow up the bridge was foiled.
02:57
Music
03:13
WILLACY: Compared with Syria, which is struggling to revive its stretch of the Hejaz, in Jordan its full steam ahead.
Ueli: It was once
03:21
Super: Ulrich Bellwald, Archaeologist a joint project of the entire Islamic world, and maybe we may bring people together again.
03:35
Train at Amman station We want to be ready with everything, the tracks have to be restored, the station buildings have to be restored, the infrastructure updated, and September 1st 2008 we may celebrate the centennial of the Hejaz railway in a decent manner, because it was opened on September 1st.
03:45
Train passes through tunnel
Music
04:15
WILLACY: And the commercial venture is not without government support. The push to restore the Hejaz enjoys the royal patronage of Jordans Prince Hassan bin Talal.
04:27
Prince Hassan: As far as desert tourism is concerned its very important, people love to go to Petra.
04:47
Super:Prince Hassan of Jordan I think it is a very virtuous goal to hope to achieve.
04:56
Train travels through countryside
WILLACY: The historic Hejaz railway is the legacy of the Ottomans 400 years of Turkish rule. By the end of the first World War the Ottoman Empire and the Hejaz line lay in ruins. Lawrence of Arabia and his Bedouin fighters would be immortalised in an Academy Award winning movie.
05:05
Camels/ Train
Music
05:28
Bedouin on horseback attack train in tourist show
WILLACY: Today the Bedouin still launch the occasional attack on the Hejaz railway. Like their forefathers the Bedouin are expert horsemen, but unlike their ancestors, they want to preserve this line, not destroy it.
05:44
Music
06:00
WILLACY: These desert dwellers are putting on shows for the tourists and today the victim of the Bedouin kidnappers is tour guide, Rheem Bandak.
06:10
Rheem
Rheem: The Bedouin are the most important element in this adventure, because they got rid of the Ottoman occupation in Jordan and started the Arab Revolt.
06:26
The Bedouin Show helps the tourists to feel the real experience. It shows the Bedouin culture and how they fought the Ottomans.
06:50
Bedouin on horseback attack train in tourist show
WILLACY: These men are direct descendants of the warriors who rode with Lawrence -- theyre members of the feared Howeitat tribe. In the movie Anthony Quinn played Audi Abu Tayi, the legendary chief of the Howeitat, who Lawrence described as the greatest fighting man in north Arabia.
07:02
Tayeb
Tayeb al-Howeitat is a great-grandson of the Arab warrior.
07:27
Tayeb: When Audi Abu Tayi and Lawrence of Arabia destroyed the railway, the reason was to protect the Arabs from the Turks, not to harm the Bedouin.
07:32
Musicians play for passengers Now we are protecting the railway, and we are welcoming the tourists and we put on a show with our horses to encourage them to come and to show them we are nice people.
07:48
Deserted track and stations
Music
08:01
WILLACY: Much of the track in southern Jordan and across the border in neighbouring Saudi Arabia still lies in ruin 90 years after the Arab Revolt. And now theres another threat to the line.
08:22
Willacy walks with Ueli WILLACY: So Ueli, how much damage did the treasure hunters do to the railway?
08:40
Ueli: They did a lot of damage. You see these holes? Before winter came they were much deeper, metres deeper and they were even reaching below the tracks and sleepers started to break. We started back filling
08:43
WILLACY: Ulrich Bellwald is a Swiss archaeologist turned entrepreneur whos leading a European consortium to restore the Hejaz railway.
08:55
At this station, south of Amman, Bedouin using bulldozers have dug huge holes in the search for mythical Turkish gold.
09:07
Ueli: There are even Jordanians going to downtown Istanbul, where people are known having
09:18
Ueli the very map where the treasures are buried, and they pay a lot of money and come here and they are damaging seriously our tracks.
09:22
Train in mountains
Music
09:33
WILLACY: Further to the south, climbing from Aqaba up through the desert passes of the Hejaz mountains, this steam train is also driving Jordans bid to attract tourists.Woman: The view of the mountains here and the nature you can see, you cant see in any other place in the world.
09:44
Woman on train So because God offered this area beautiful views we should come and see it.
10:06
WILLACY: On this trip, theres even a theatrical touch. Fawaz Zoubis grand father actually served in the Turkish army.
10:15
Fawaz dressed in Turkish army uniform Fawaz Zoubi: I am actually dressed as an Ottoman soldier, a Turkish soldier who would be guarding a train like this in 1916 when the Arab Revolt started, and thats how the uniform used to look.
10:24
Train in desert
Music
10:37
WILLACY: But the jewel in the Jordanian crown is the plan to connect Petra to the Hejaz line.
10:47
Rose Red City One of the drawcards of this desert is the Rose Red City carved into the towering rock by the now extinct Nabataeans more than 2000 years ago. For centuries, this stunning city was on the main commercial camel route linking the Persian Gulf in the east, to Gaza on the Mediterranean in the west.
10:57
Ueli: You know Petra is the highlight of tourism in Jordan. It is the most attractive site, and we have to use Petra as a magnet.
11:23
Ueli
We will do advertising PR showing that in the future people, if they wish, we may bring them to Petra for a big part of the entire trip by steam trains.
11:35
Train in desert
Music
11:48
WILLACY: The Jordanian enthusiasm is not matched by neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
12:02
Jordans Prince Hassan is critical of Saudi authorities who fear reviving the Hejaz railway might bring non-Muslims to the holy lands.
12:10
Prince Hassan: Well, the traditional views, I think, of the conservative establishment, is that this might be a railway of seditious ideas, or seditious practices,. But if were talking about
12:28
Prince Hassan pilgrimages, we are coming with a mind-set of wanting to perform a religious ritual, and I dont see any danger in that.
12:41
Train passes Bedouin on camels The idea was never for it to remain destroyed, but for it to continue as a bridge of ideas, and as a bridge of peace.
12:55
WILLACY: Despite Saudi indifference the Jordanians are keen to capitalise on their history.
13:10
Tourist show For hundreds of generations the Bedouin have driven their camel trains through the Hejaz in the heart of Arabia. This is 21st century Bedouin business.
13:18
Bedouin on camels
Music
13:33
WILLACY: When Lawrence of Arabia led his desert caravan into Wadi Rum, he said everyone fell silent, awed by what he described as the vast, echoing and God-like features of this sand, granite and basalt landscape. It was here that Lawrence gathered the Bedouin tribes into a fighting force against the Turks. And it was also where he conceived his memoirs The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
13:45
Music
14:10
WILLACY: The Hejaz is vital to the Bedouins future. But if this latest project turns out to be more fanciful than feasible, then much of one of the worlds great railways seems destined to remain buried beneath the sands of Arabia.
14:16
Music 14:34
It was one of the great train journeys of the world.
Built by the Turkish Ottoman Empire the Hejaz railway transported thousands of pilgrims on the 1300 kilometre trip from Syrias capital Damascus to Medina, in what is now Saudi Arabia.
The First World War saw significant stretches of the Hejaz railway destroyed by the legendary Lawrence of Arabia and his Bedouin fighters.
Now an ambitious plan is underway to resurrect the railway to reclaim it from the ravages of the desert.
Jordans Prince Hassan bin Talal, supports the rebuilding of the railway. He told Foreign Correspondents Mark Willacy the railway was a bridge of ideas, and a bridge of peace.
While Jordan is going full steam ahead not all the governments in the region feel the same.
Hampering the reconstruction effort are hoards of treasure hunters who have been digging under the tracks for rumoured hidden gold.
Among those most keen to see the Hejaz railway work again are the descendants of Lawrences Bedouin fighters. They still attack the train but these days its a show for tourists.
Damascus dawn Music 00:00
Train at Kanawat station
WILLACY: Its the end of the line for this old steam locomotive. But 98 years ago when the Kanawat Station was opened, it was the starting point for Muslims taking the annual Hajj pilgrimage from here in Damascus, to Medina in Saudi Arabia. This line was also vital for the defence of the Ottoman Empire, and when it crumbled, so too did the Hejaz Railway.
00:16 Damascus streets Music
00:40
WILLACY: Nearly a century after its inception theres now an ambitious plan to restore the historic Hejaz Railway line.
Music 01:05
WILLACY: Damascus lays claim to being the worlds oldest continuously inhabited city, but in the present climate its unlikely to be inundated by foreign visitors.
01:09
Railway workshop
These days the Hejaz railway begins here at Qadem station on the outskirts of Damascus.
01:28
Hassan Kharat, a Syrian tour guide, is leading a group of European tourists around the old workshops.
01:35
Hassan Hassan: Syria is the birth place of human civilisation and here many civilisations existed. It is attractive and pleasurable for many visitors. These people have an interest because many of these old trains were made in Switzerland or Germany.
01:46
Steam train winds through countryside
Music
02:06
WILLACY: This is Syrias selling point -- a spectacular ride as the old train winds its way along one of the most beautiful stretches of the Hejaz through the picturesque Yarmouk valley.
02:18
Music
02:29
WILLACY: This line attracted the attention of British Lieutenant-Colonel T.E. Lawrence -- the famous Lawrence of Arabia and his band of Bedouin guerrillas during the first World War.
02:40
Train crosses bridge/Children watch
And this was their target -- the main Yarmouk Valley Bridge -- an enormous steel structure spanning the river below. Thankfully for these train buffs the attempt by Lawrence to blow up the bridge was foiled.
02:57
Music
03:13
WILLACY: Compared with Syria, which is struggling to revive its stretch of the Hejaz, in Jordan its full steam ahead.
Ueli: It was once
03:21
Super: Ulrich Bellwald, Archaeologist a joint project of the entire Islamic world, and maybe we may bring people together again.
03:35
Train at Amman station We want to be ready with everything, the tracks have to be restored, the station buildings have to be restored, the infrastructure updated, and September 1st 2008 we may celebrate the centennial of the Hejaz railway in a decent manner, because it was opened on September 1st.
03:45
Train passes through tunnel
Music
04:15
WILLACY: And the commercial venture is not without government support. The push to restore the Hejaz enjoys the royal patronage of Jordans Prince Hassan bin Talal.
04:27
Prince Hassan: As far as desert tourism is concerned its very important, people love to go to Petra.
04:47
Super:Prince Hassan of Jordan I think it is a very virtuous goal to hope to achieve.
04:56
Train travels through countryside
WILLACY: The historic Hejaz railway is the legacy of the Ottomans 400 years of Turkish rule. By the end of the first World War the Ottoman Empire and the Hejaz line lay in ruins. Lawrence of Arabia and his Bedouin fighters would be immortalised in an Academy Award winning movie.
05:05
Camels/ Train
Music
05:28
Bedouin on horseback attack train in tourist show
WILLACY: Today the Bedouin still launch the occasional attack on the Hejaz railway. Like their forefathers the Bedouin are expert horsemen, but unlike their ancestors, they want to preserve this line, not destroy it.
05:44
Music
06:00
WILLACY: These desert dwellers are putting on shows for the tourists and today the victim of the Bedouin kidnappers is tour guide, Rheem Bandak.
06:10
Rheem
Rheem: The Bedouin are the most important element in this adventure, because they got rid of the Ottoman occupation in Jordan and started the Arab Revolt.
06:26
The Bedouin Show helps the tourists to feel the real experience. It shows the Bedouin culture and how they fought the Ottomans.
06:50
Bedouin on horseback attack train in tourist show
WILLACY: These men are direct descendants of the warriors who rode with Lawrence -- theyre members of the feared Howeitat tribe. In the movie Anthony Quinn played Audi Abu Tayi, the legendary chief of the Howeitat, who Lawrence described as the greatest fighting man in north Arabia.
07:02
Tayeb
Tayeb al-Howeitat is a great-grandson of the Arab warrior.
07:27
Tayeb: When Audi Abu Tayi and Lawrence of Arabia destroyed the railway, the reason was to protect the Arabs from the Turks, not to harm the Bedouin.
07:32
Musicians play for passengers Now we are protecting the railway, and we are welcoming the tourists and we put on a show with our horses to encourage them to come and to show them we are nice people.
07:48
Deserted track and stations
Music
08:01
WILLACY: Much of the track in southern Jordan and across the border in neighbouring Saudi Arabia still lies in ruin 90 years after the Arab Revolt. And now theres another threat to the line.
08:22
Willacy walks with Ueli WILLACY: So Ueli, how much damage did the treasure hunters do to the railway?
08:40
Ueli: They did a lot of damage. You see these holes? Before winter came they were much deeper, metres deeper and they were even reaching below the tracks and sleepers started to break. We started back filling
08:43
WILLACY: Ulrich Bellwald is a Swiss archaeologist turned entrepreneur whos leading a European consortium to restore the Hejaz railway.
08:55
At this station, south of Amman, Bedouin using bulldozers have dug huge holes in the search for mythical Turkish gold.
09:07
Ueli: There are even Jordanians going to downtown Istanbul, where people are known having
09:18
Ueli the very map where the treasures are buried, and they pay a lot of money and come here and they are damaging seriously our tracks.
09:22
Train in mountains
Music
09:33
WILLACY: Further to the south, climbing from Aqaba up through the desert passes of the Hejaz mountains, this steam train is also driving Jordans bid to attract tourists.Woman: The view of the mountains here and the nature you can see, you cant see in any other place in the world.
09:44
Woman on train So because God offered this area beautiful views we should come and see it.
10:06
WILLACY: On this trip, theres even a theatrical touch. Fawaz Zoubis grand father actually served in the Turkish army.
10:15
Fawaz dressed in Turkish army uniform Fawaz Zoubi: I am actually dressed as an Ottoman soldier, a Turkish soldier who would be guarding a train like this in 1916 when the Arab Revolt started, and thats how the uniform used to look.
10:24
Train in desert
Music
10:37
WILLACY: But the jewel in the Jordanian crown is the plan to connect Petra to the Hejaz line.
10:47
Rose Red City One of the drawcards of this desert is the Rose Red City carved into the towering rock by the now extinct Nabataeans more than 2000 years ago. For centuries, this stunning city was on the main commercial camel route linking the Persian Gulf in the east, to Gaza on the Mediterranean in the west.
10:57
Ueli: You know Petra is the highlight of tourism in Jordan. It is the most attractive site, and we have to use Petra as a magnet.
11:23
Ueli
We will do advertising PR showing that in the future people, if they wish, we may bring them to Petra for a big part of the entire trip by steam trains.
11:35
Train in desert
Music
11:48
WILLACY: The Jordanian enthusiasm is not matched by neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
12:02
Jordans Prince Hassan is critical of Saudi authorities who fear reviving the Hejaz railway might bring non-Muslims to the holy lands.
12:10
Prince Hassan: Well, the traditional views, I think, of the conservative establishment, is that this might be a railway of seditious ideas, or seditious practices,. But if were talking about
12:28
Prince Hassan pilgrimages, we are coming with a mind-set of wanting to perform a religious ritual, and I dont see any danger in that.
12:41
Train passes Bedouin on camels The idea was never for it to remain destroyed, but for it to continue as a bridge of ideas, and as a bridge of peace.
12:55
WILLACY: Despite Saudi indifference the Jordanians are keen to capitalise on their history.
13:10
Tourist show For hundreds of generations the Bedouin have driven their camel trains through the Hejaz in the heart of Arabia. This is 21st century Bedouin business.
13:18
Bedouin on camels
Music
13:33
WILLACY: When Lawrence of Arabia led his desert caravan into Wadi Rum, he said everyone fell silent, awed by what he described as the vast, echoing and God-like features of this sand, granite and basalt landscape. It was here that Lawrence gathered the Bedouin tribes into a fighting force against the Turks. And it was also where he conceived his memoirs The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
13:45
Music
14:10
WILLACY: The Hejaz is vital to the Bedouins future. But if this latest project turns out to be more fanciful than feasible, then much of one of the worlds great railways seems destined to remain buried beneath the sands of Arabia.
14:16
Music 14:34