Saudi Arabia’s transport minister said joint studies for a proposed railway link connecting the kingdom to Turkey through Jordan and Syria are expected to be completed before the end of 2026, in remarks to Al Arabiya that point to a broader regional push to rebuild overland trade routes.
Saleh al-Jasser, Saudi Arabia’s minister of transport and logistic services, said the project would support trade flows and strengthen regional integration through land transport, according to the Al Arabiya Business interview published Wednesday.
The comments came days after Jordan’s official Petra news agency reported that al-Jasser and Jordanian Transport Minister Nidal Qatamin had discussed a regional railway project and agreed on the need for a joint committee involving Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria to study possible routes and connections.
The railway proposal is part of a greater effort by countries in the region to restore transport links through Syria after years of conflict. On April 7, Turkey, Jordan and Syria signed a transport cooperation memorandum in Amman aimed at boosting regional trade and improving road and rail connectivity.
Saudi Arabia has already expanded freight infrastructure toward Jordan. In March, the Saudi Press Agency said Saudi Arabia Railways launched a logistics corridor linking eastern Saudi ports to Al Haditha near the Jordanian border, creating a route for cargo moving north.
The Saudi-Turkey railway remains in the study phase, however, and officials have not announced construction timelines, financing terms or final route details for the segments that would cross Jordan and Syria.
This comes as the Iran war has exposed the risk of relying on sea lanes through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandeb, with traffic through Hormuz coming to a near standstill and major shipping lines rerouting vessels around Africa because of threats tied to both chokepoints, giving new weight to plans for overland trade corridors linking the Gulf to Turkey and Europe.