Turkey renovates Lebanon railway on Hejaz rail line

Turkey to blow life into the Tripoli railway station that became dysfunctional in 1975.

Lebanon railway, Turkey, renovation
Turkey renovates "a cultural asset" in Lebanon

Tripoli’s Lebanon railway to get a renovated look. The train station is located on Hejaz Railway and was build sometimes between the year “1900 and 1908” by Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II.

The Mina Lebanon railway station started running in 1911 and continued to operate until the Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975. Beirut will now sign a protocol, whereby sanctioning the renovation work of the said station.

Signing of the Lebanon railway renovation protocol took place on June 28, 2018, whereby the signatories present were “Turkish Tourism Ministry’s Cultural Heritage and Museums Department and the Lebanese Railway and Public Transportation authority”. According to a top railway officer of Lebanon, Ziyad Nasr, the renovation cost remains to be calculated, while the Anadolu Agency run by Turkey reported that the latter country will not come in the picture of payments towards the renovation work.

While, assuring “no economic obstacles”, the “Culture and Tourism Ministry’s Cultural Heritage and Museums department” Head, Yalçın Kurt added:
“This is a very important project we are doing abroad”.
“It means a lot to us that it is both a cultural asset and that a train station would be renovated. Turkey is carrying out more than 5,000 projects that include civilian architecture and other formations”.

The duration for the Lebanon railway renovation work is expected to be a year. In fact, more collaborative ventures are likely to come on the way and as “investment efforts”, more restoration work will be undertaken. In fact, 2016, Turkey had signed a protocol with Jordan towards another restoration venture which falls on the same railway. The said restoration work of Jordan’s “historic railway station, funded by Turkey, is a gesture to fortify the connection “between Ankara and Amman”, informed that project head from the Turkish agency.

The “Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency” head, Serdar Cam remarked on the restoration work which “will contribute to relations between the two countries and also bind together the people of Turkey and Jordan”. Cam paid a visit to the “Hejaz Railway Amman Station” and observed the “ongoing project”, wherein a “museum for the historic railway” will also be built, showcasing “pictures of how the historic line was built”.

Muslim pilgrims can take on an easier spiritual journey, thanks to the “Jordanian Hejaz Railway” that gives access to Damascus, Amman, Medina, and Saudi Arabia. The said railway line is “one of the oldest in the region”, in fact also in the world, which enables pilgrims to travel a journey in “less than three days” which otherwise took around “three months”.