Jordanian Transport Minister Lina Shbeeb announced plans for a $2.8 billion national railway project covering the country. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, she said the network would be 942 kilometers long and was planned eventually to connect Jordan with Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It would be separate from the Hejaz Railway. The government had begun paying compensation for land acquired along the proposed route, at a cost of $280 million.
She said funding sources were being sought for the project, which would be implemented with the private sector, and work had begun on some partial connections. The Transport Ministry’s official website said the project would connect selected cities and production centers through a standard-gauge railway network and link Jordan with neighboring countries. The proposed network would have two main corridors: a north–south line from the Syrian border to Aqaba, and an east–west line from Irbid through Mafraq and Zarqa to the Iraqi border, with a branch through Azraq to the Saudi border.
The ministry said Chinese company CCECC had expressed interest in the project and sent an engineering team to study and trace the route. The team’s report was being reviewed by the project’s technical committee.