Hauran Railway
| Damascus – Muzeirib | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route length: | 100 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1050 mm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Hauran Railway was the first railway in what is now Syria and was then part of the Ottoman Empire .
Emergence
The Hauran Railway was built by the French company Société des Chemins de fer Ottomans économiques de Beyrouth-Damas-Hauran , which had held the relevant license since 1891. It was opened on July 17, 1894 .
It ran from Damascus to Muzairib . It should not be confused with a parallel connection of the Hejaz Railway, which was built a few years later a little further east and also served Muzairib via its branch line to Haifa .
The Hauranbahn went on level ground, in the Hauranebene . It could be erected without any technical difficulties.
meaning
The Hauran Railway opened up the fertile Hauran Plain and thus served to supply Damascus. After the Lebanon Railway in Damascus went into operation in 1895, it was the first time that agricultural products could also be shipped via the port of Beirut , which was what gave the Hauran Railway its real importance.
Competition of the Hejaz Railway
When the Ottoman Empire planned the Hejaz Railway, it tried to buy up the Hauran Railway, but failed because of the excessive demands made by the then owner, the Société Ottomane du Chemin de fer Damas-Hamah et Prolongements (DHP) . So the Hejaz Railway was laid in parallel and there were two railway lines between Damascus and Muzairib that were in competition until the First World War.
Although the neighboring Hejaz Railway chose the same gauge as the Hauran Railway, there was never a track connection due to the competitive situation between the two railways before the First World War .
End of the Hauranbahn
At the beginning of the First World War, all foreign railways owned by companies that were based in now hostile countries, including the Hauranbahn, were confiscated. It was immediately dismantled so that the material could be used for driving the railroad in Palestine in the direction of the Suez Canal to be attacked.
literature
- Johannes Müller: Syria and the Hejaz Railway. Röhr, Krefeld 1989, ISBN 3-88490-177-X ( Steam & Travel, Überseeische Bahnen 1989, 1).
- Dieter Noll (Ed.): The Hejaz Railway. A German railway in the desert. German Society for Railway History, Werl 1995, ISBN 3-921700-68-X .
- Neil Robinson: World Rail Atlas and historical summary. Volume 8: The Middle East and Caucasus. World Rail Atlas Ltd., London 2006, ISBN 954-12-0128-8 .
- Accident on the Hauran Railway . In: The Locomotive . 1904, p. 49, online .