15 Ağustos 2019 Perşembe

TNT History Archives: How The Hejaz Railway Might Have Been Better (1903)

//Ed. Note: Şerefeddin Mağmumi (real name Eşref
Fevzi) was one of the founders of the İttihat ve Terakki
Cemiyeti (Committee of Union and Progress) that 
came to rule Turkey after Sultan Abdülhamid II was 
dethroned in 1909.  

While in exile in Cairo in the early 1900s, Mağmumi 
wrote a newspaper column called "Düşündüm ki..." 
(I'm Thinking That…).  TNT has transcribed/
translated some of these columns.  Herewith the first
 - an idea in 1903 about how to make the Hejaz Railway 
more productive and beneficial for the world's 
Moslem pilgrims.//

Hejaz Railway background click here for more info.

An Ottoman Adventure in the Hejaz click here for a
TNT report about an Ottoman official who brought
a German ship's crew through the desert to the 
Hejaz Railway in 1915.

hicaz railway map ile ilgili görsel sonucu
Mağmumi's 1903 idea never came to fruition
in Ottoman times.




"I’m Thinking That…" – “Türk” newspaper: 
19 November 1903, Cairo, Egypt
by Şerefeddin Mağmumi



The Hecaz railway, of which a 300-kilometer portion was built in
3 years, is more of a great work of Islam than of the Ottoman 
Empire.  Everyone agrees with this.  But as far as I’m concerned it 
should be entirely dedicated to all Moslems because Ottomans, 
Egyptians, Moroccans, Indians and Javans all opened their wallets 
to participate in the railway’s construction.  

Consequently, the railway should have begun at Jeddah.  All of the 
pilgrims coming from the south would benefit from a Jeddah-Mecca 
link and from there a link to Medina.  Otherwise, pilgrims coming 
from India, Java and China cannot avail themselves of the link from 
Damascus to Medina.   Secondly, the Jeddah-Mecca link would be 
100 kilometers and if a short-cut for the route could be found this 
distance could be reduced.  In other words, this could be done in 
a year.  
hicaz railway map jeddah ile ilgili görsel sonucu
Mağmumi's idea was to build a rail line from 
Jeddah to Mecca and then connect to the main
line from Damascus at Medina. Pilgrims from
the 'south' refers to those coming by ship to 
Jeddah from India and the Far East.

Could this happen? The already-built Damascus line has begun to 
show a profit.  Every year between 100,000 and 200,000 pilgrims 
take this line and continuing it on to Mecca makes commercial 
sense.  An extension from the Damascus line to Mecca could be 
done in seven or eight years, if construction is done with alacrity, 
but without such an extension the line is not worthwhile for 
Ottoman, Iranian and Russian pilgrims who reach Medina, only 
to have to proceed on to Mecca on the back of a camel in 8-10 
days, which they are loath to do.  

In other words, this rail line should be completely constructed, 
after which all concerned could benefit from the transportation.  
All pilgrims coming from the north and the south  could be 
transported via a Jeddah – Mecca – Medina line and this would 
be very profitable.  So it is not just desired but, rather, essential 
that this link from Jeddah be done to both motivate pilgrims who 
want to come from the south and to create significant and 
constant revenue on the original main line from Damascus.    
hicaz railway ile ilgili görsel sonucu
In fact, according to information we have obtained, when the 
Moslems of Hyderabad, India, deliver the 62 million kuruş they 
have collected for the rail line to the Ottoman government they 
will make a request for the Jeddah link.  And they will be very 
justified in making such a request.  Here in Egypt, based on 
what we are hearing from the populace, everyone wants to know 
when the Jeddah link will be built.  In the event that they hear that 
it has begun, then contributions from Egypt will begin, as well.  

Some people say that the Ottoman government is stalling about 
the Jeddah link because of concerns about protecting it from the 
Bedouins.  Let us not give that any credence. The more-than-1,000-
kilometer rail line from Damascus is well-protected by the Ottoman 
government, so guarding a 100-kilometer Jeddah link from the 
Bedouins would be easy.    Others put forth the excuse that bringing 
the necessary equipment to Jeddah through the Suez Canal would be 
too expensive.  This ought to be calculated but it really makes no 
difference because the amount of money it would cost for a 100-
kilometer link would be recouped in one year after the line begins 
operation.  

In short,  the Ottoman government felt the urgent need to build the 
Haifa-Dera extension line within two or three years of starting the 
line from Damascus.  We hope that now our observations will be 
thoroughly considered and a decision made to build the Jeddah – 
Mecca rail line.

 Şerefeddin Mağmûmî
                   Şerefeddin Mağmumi

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