The Hejaz Railway Station at Daraa

This is what made Daraa matter in the twentieth century: the junction of the narrow-gauge Hejaz railway. The line was ordered by Sultan Abdul Hamid II in March 1900 and reached Medina in 1908, running on a gauge of 1050 millimetres. Here the main line down from Damascus met the branch that ran west to Haifa on the Mediterranean. A town in the middle of the Hauran was, for a few decades, the knot tying the pilgrimage route to the coast.

Getting there

North-east of the centre, at the edge of the modern town. You walk; the track runs through the fabric of the place, so you meet the rails before you reach the station.

How long it takes

Half an hour. This is not a museum and there is no hall to walk through; you come for the buildings, the rails and the position itself.

What to see

The narrow-gauge track and the station buildings. Pay attention to where the rails run: in photographs taken in 2000 the line goes straight down the market street, a steam locomotive coming through between the stalls. The railway’s rolling stock and fittings in Syria were damaged and looted during the war years, and the present state of the station cannot be independently confirmed.

Does anything run

No. The line has not operated for years and there are no departures from Daraa in any direction. Attempts to revive it did pick up in 2025 and 2026. An agreement was announced in September 2025 to complete the missing stretch of the route running from Jordan through Syria to Turkey. In June 2026 Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed rail and logistics agreements for a corridor linking the Gulf to Europe through Syria and Jordan. None of that has yet put a train into Daraa.

What not to miss

The military history of the junction. On 27 September 1918 the Arab Northern Army took the town here from retreating Ottoman forces. In the same operation the line was cut to the south at Mafraq, to the north at Tell Arar and to the west at Mezerib. T. E. Lawrence also wrote in Seven Pillars of Wisdom that he was captured at Daraa and abused there. Those few days are much of the reason the name of this town turns up so often in English sources.

Where it stands now

The station is out of service and the condition of the buildings could not be confirmed. Railway installations often count as official premises in Syria: ask before taking photographs, and do not walk in without speaking to someone in charge.