Talk:Hejaz railway

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I'm curious why this article was merged to this name, which seems to be the least used transliteration of the name on Google -

• "Hijaz Railway" - 48 hits
• "Hedjaz Railway" - 248 hits
• "Hejaz Railway" - 1520 hits

I'd suggest "Hedjaz" (as the form most commonly used at the time of construction) or "Hejaz" (most common today) would be more appropriate if the aim is for people to find this article. -- Arwel 20:33, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I get:

• "hijaz railway" - 434
• "hedjaz railway" - 248
• "hejaz railway" - 1520 hits

Probably just a Google thing.

There was an article called Hijaz line, which I expanded. I live in Jeddah, which is in the Hijaz, and Hijaz is the common spelling in English consular documents etc. as well as the spelling used by the Saudis themselves when writing in English. When I renamed it to Hijaz railway I discovered there was already another article, so I merged the better parts. I have no problem if anybody wants to move it to Hejaz railway. Probably logical, since there is also a Hejaz article. The only comprehensive book on the railway uses the spelling Hedjaz, which is a bit old-fashioned. Quite off-topic, but I've got a Hijaz/Hejaz rail-pin on the desk in front of me right now. Anjouli 20:48, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

And I've moved it. You are right of course. Anjouli 20:56, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

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I'm not sure how but the page history of this article seems to have been lost. I wrote the innitial entry to this article some time ago G-Man 18:01, 13 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Ok it had been merged from Hedjas Railway instead of being moved, so I moved that here to avoid losing the history G-Man 18:08, 13 Dec 2003 (UTC)

• "Hedjas" is the old German spelling. Maybe some justification since the Germans helped build it. Anjouli 06:01, 14 Dec 2003 (UTC)

The article started out as the Hedjaz railway, then got merged into another article on the Hijaz railway, hence the comment above about the most common transliterations, then it was moved back to Hedjaz railway and now has been moved to Hejaz railway. I don't mind which we finally settle on as long as we don't have long chains of REDIRECTs since I believe double-redirects don't work. Arwel 18:54, 13 Dec 2003 (UTC)

And I have now edited all the other transliterations to redirect directly to Hejaz_railway. Arwel 19:01, 13 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Hejaz is probably the best place, as we have a Hejaz article. I thought that was where I left it after the last edit, but it seems to have been all around the houses since then. Anjouli 05:53, 14 Dec 2003 (UTC)

After a closer inspection of the history, I see my rename to "Hejaz" seems to have vanished and somehow it got back to "Hedjaz". How did that happen? Anjouli 05:59, 14 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I think it should go back to Hijaz. Google shows that that's more common (over 46000 English-language hits as opposed to 42000 for Hejaz; it's also more accurate and here in Syria at least it seems to be more commonly used for the railway.

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As to the metal sleepers used in some areas, the stealing of wooden ones wasn't necessarily the only reason. In many climates wood does not survive at all well, and thus other materials are often used -- iron or steel being the most practicable at the time of construction of most narrow gauge railways. This is the reason for them being used on the Eritrean Railway, for example. These days, concrete would of course be used. --Morven 08:34, 15 Dec 2003 (UTC)

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"Although justified as a "religious railway" to aid the Hajj pilgrimage, its true purpose was probably to cement the Ottoman grip on the region and foster trade between Damascus and Medina."

So now we're ascribing motives to the Ottomans for building this and saying that they had negative intentions relative to the Arabs. How do you know what its "true purpose" was?

• • ..err, because it's the shared opinion of most historians of the period and mentioned in almost all written texts about the railway? 212.93.160.7 19:41, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lack of continuation to Mecca

I thought that the main reason for this was that Abdul Hamid II was overthrown and his successor wasn't as enthusiastic about the whole Hejaz railway project. What do reliable sources say? -- Ynhockey ^(Talk) 21:58, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Route details

I noticed that the article [Hedschasbahn] on the German Wikipedia has much more detailed route information. I translated one of the tables. Any opinions whether these route-tables, and iother info from the German article, may be a useful addition here?

sorry forgot to sign! 17:29, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Another try. Bleddynefans (talk) 17:30, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Hejaz-Railway (Main Line)
Line length:	1320 km
Gauge:	1050 mm
Maximum incline:	1,8 ‰
Minimum radius:	100 m
Legend -6,0 Damascus–Kanawat 1906 enlonguement 0,0 Damascus-Cadem Works Damascus-Cadem–Halep to Qatara 20,8 Kiswe 30,5 Der Ali 49,7 Mismije 62,6 Dschabab 69,1 Chabab 77,8 Mahadsha 84,6 Shakra 91,2 Esra formerly 600mm-narrow gauge to As-Sawayda 106,1 Chibret al-Ghasali to/from Haifa 123,0 Dar'a Ghares 128,6 to Bosra wadi wadi 135,7 Nassib motorway Amman–Damascus border Syria/Jordan 140,1 Dschabir 161,7 Mafraq 185,3 Chirbet us-Samra wadi motorway Amman–Damascus wadi 194,0 Salis IPC-Refinery wadi 202,7 Az-Zarqa wadi Rossaifa street Rossaifa 222,4 Amman Railway Museum Jesin-viaduct 234,0 Qasr gallery motorway Amman Circular 248,8 Lubin wadi street Amman–Airport 259,7 Dshisa wadi wadi 278,7 Daba’a wadi wadi wadi 295,2 Chan uz-Zibib wadi wadi wadi wadi wadi wadi 309,3 Suaka wadi 326,2 Qatrana wye wadi wadi wadi 348,4 Menzil crossing wadi wadi wadi phosphate mine Abiad M 45 367,1 Faraifa Phosphatw mine wadi el-Hassa 377,8 Al-Hassa M 45 397,4 Dschiruf ed-Derwish M 45 422,7 Anese to Hischech 440,5 Wadu Dshardum crossing Ma’an Old Station) to Naqb Ashtar 458,8 Ma'an 475,0 Gadir al-Hadsh 487,0 Shedija crossing 491,0 Abu Tarafa 500,0 Esch-Schifia 508,0 Fassua 514,2 Aqaba el-Hedschasije (Hattyia) 519,7 Batn al-Ghul 522,5 to Aqaba 530,0 wadi Rassim 545,0 Tel esh-Sham 572,0 Mudawarra border Jordan/Saudi-Arabia 583,0 crossing 591,0 Kalaat Amara 598,0 crossing 610,0 Sat ul-Hadsch 622,0 crossing 635,0 Bir Hermas 654,0 El-Hazim 667,0 Makhtab 681,0 crossing 692,0 Tabuk 706,0 crossing 710,0 wadi Atil 716,0 crossing 737,0 Sahr ul -hul 743,0 Dar ul-Hadsh 753,0 Mustabka 757,0 Al-Achdar 773,0 Chamis 794,4 Dissaid 830,0 Al-Muadhem/Muassam 844,0 crossing 855,0 Khism Sana’a/Hachim Sana 871,0 crossing 883,0 Al-Muteli 885,0 Dar al-Hamra 904,0 Mutali 912,0 Abu Taka 924,0 crossing 938,0 Al-Muzhim 946,0 Mabrakat al-Naka 958,0 Meda’in Saleh works & museum 973,0 crossingg 983,0 Al-Ula 994,0 crossing 1003,0 Bedai crossing 1013,0 Mesched crossing 1025,0 crossing 1029,0 Sahil Matara crossing 1048,0 Zumrud/Sumruk 1060,0 crossing 1079,0 Bir Jehid 1099,0 Tuwaira crossing 1115,0 Waiban crossing 1126,0 Muderitsh crossing 1144,0 Hedia 1166,3 Dsheda 1176,0 Abu al-Na’am 1194,5 Stabl Antar 1215,0 Al-Buwayr crossing 1228,0 crossing 1245,0 Bir Nassif 1273,0 Hafire crossing 1290,5 Bir Abu Jabir/Muhid 1303,0 Buwata crossing 1309,0 Hafirah 1315,5 Bir Osman 1320,5 Medina 1322,0 Medina Citadel