Qadam Railway Station

A station on the southern edge of Damascus, in the Qadam district. The Hejaz station in the city centre was the shop window; the work happened here. Built in the early 20th century as part of the Hejaz railway, it became one of the busiest stations in Syria after the Ottoman period.

Getting there

South from the city centre into the Qadam district. Around twenty minutes by taxi from inside the walls; the station building stands beside the main road, its dark basalt facade setting it apart from the concrete around it.

What to see

A two-storey basalt block with a timber-eaved gable and arched windows glazed in coloured glass. A marble plaque under the gable carries the station name in Ottoman Turkish. Behind it stretch the workshop buildings and the yard where old rolling stock stood.

What not to miss

The plaque on the gable. It is one of the few legible Ottoman-period traces left on the Hejaz line, and it says more than the building does.

How it stands today

The station was badly damaged in the fighting of 2013, which hit both the buildings and the carriages standing on the tracks. Rail services stopped across the country and limited services resumed in 2018. The site is a working railway facility, so entry needs permission; looking from outside does not.