The Ottomans, assisted by Germany, construct the…
1900 CE to 1911 CE
The Ottomans, assisted by Germany, construct the Hejaz Railway (Turkish: Hicaz Demiryolu) between 1900 and 1908, ostensibly to facilitate pilgrimages to the Muslims' holy places in Arabia but in fact also to strengthen Ottoman control over the most distant provinces of the empire.
The main line, built by a multiracial labor force mainly under the supervision of a German engineer, traverses eight hundred and twenty miles miles (thirteen hundred and twenty kilometers) of difficult country and is completed in only eight years.
By 1908 the railroad links Damascus with the holy city of Medina.
To protect the railroad, the Porte increases its military presence along the route and, as it had done earlier to safeguard caravan traffic, subsidizes rival Arab tribal sheikhs in the region.