Thursday: Prime Minister Bisher and Minister of Defense Al Khasawneh said:
The government will launch major projects, mainly in railways, and several firms have expressed interest in the project.
The Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported: During a visit to the King Hussein Bin Talal Development Zone in Mafraq. meeting with several zone investors and officials, Khasawneh stressed that the government will remove obstacles and facilitate inve
[quote user=“daveklepper”]
Thursday: Prime Minister Bisher and Minister of Defence Al Khasawneh said:
The government will launch major projects, mainly in railways, and several firms have expressed interest in the project.
The Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported: During a visit to the King Hussein Bin Talal Development Zone in Mafraq. meeting with several zone investors and officials, Khasawneh stressed that the governmen
What I found interesting was that one of the people who announced it was the Defense Minister.
When your neighbors are Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Israel, your world pretty much does end at your borders.
Without being political, I can say the at one of my goals in living in Israel is to change that condition, and my most frequent routr to my apartment in the evening involves an Arab bus, the Light Rail, and then an Egged bus.
Both I and at least one planner in Israel Railways hope to have Jordan use Haifa’s Port.
And I have read the Koran and can recite Surahs 93-10 and 5-20+21 in English. Anyone interested in honestly helping here should read them.
[quote user=“daveklepper”]
…Khasawneh stressed that the government will remove obstacles and facilitate investment.
Projects includ a railway link between Aqaba and Madouneh, part of a logistics that also includes the zone, a strategic hub between four neighbouring countries
In this regard, he said that the government will finalise necessary measures to embark on this vital project and connect it with the broader infrastructure, including the zone that His Majesty King Abdullah has recently visited.
Khasawneh referred to several bureaucratic obstacles, highlighting the importance of enhancing
Based on what was mentioned in earlier posts, re-gauging would seem a bit unlikely at this time.
I think that will depend on the extent of funding.
All Jordanian Government funding, no. Help from USA or elsewhere. possibly yes. Private investment, most probably yes.
Well are there existing railroads in that area that may become interconnected, but presently have differing gages or other features such as couplers and brake systems? If so, what are the details of those differences?
Israel, Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia are all standard gauge. There are no coupler or brake situations that cannot be solved easily.
Syria has some narrow gauge anf may have some stanatd-gauge as well.
Well that is hopeful, I am not sure what the beef is between the Jordanian Royal Family and the rest of the fiefdoms in the Middle East but in my view they need to get past it. If Iraq and Kuwait can bury the hatchet and form transborder agreements with the Electrical grid and other issues then Jordan (which is alleged to be the most moderate) should be able too as well. There is a small subset of Arab countries which just refuse to work together with one another. I don’t get it. It’s great Isreal is reaching out maybe that will inspire change.
Recall what happened in the Balkans - when totalitarian rule ended, the various factions were free to fight each other instead of the common enemy, which was the government.
These folks hate each other. No two ways about it.
A bit of history, and this is history, not politics.
Jews, Christians, and Moslems with differing theology generally got along and respected each other, until the British appointed the Jerusalem Mufti Haaj Al Husseini in 1926. He had begun corresponding with Hitler in 1923.
He really transformed much of the Islamic World. And when you teach hatred as part of religion, the hatred usually ends up directed at anyone different, and that is what happened in the Islamic World.
I believe that this “nazificatom” can be undone, and I have Arab friends who agree.
Ditto my teachers at Yeshiva. Some students still disagree, but I hope to convince them.
A few days ago I had to carry a heavy packaage from the vicinity of the Mormon Univeristy building to the Yeshiva without benefit of wheels. An Arab friend happened to be jogging by, saw, and immediately offered to help, and I took him up on his offer.
I read about some of that did not know how much is true. Good luck with efforts to purge the negativism. I guess in the ME it also has to do with lack of seperation between church and state as well.
It just boggles my mind though on the railroad front that over in this hemisphere as well as in Europe and parts of Asia we have no issues with seeing inter-connectivity of rail systems and shared standards for the sake of efficiency but in the ME it is still as if time has stood still for the last several centuries or more. I agree the Ottoman Empire had a positive impact in the area of rail being standardized but…it’s long gone.
I thought I would never see the day when a reputable European or German rail company like Siemens would be selling direct to U.S. Market with even a plant built here. So I guess there has been change in the United States market to an extent…even to the point of accepting a Japanese transplant system (Texas Central).
Though in the area of safety, emissions, standards, and economies of scale we have a common market for a long while that includes Canada and Mexico and sometimes other countries outside the hemisphere.
This may have been discussed before but are there any parts of the Hedjaz railway still in existence in Jordan? In use? I have seen photos of it, still abandoned in Saudi Arabia over 100 years after T. E. Lawrence did what he did.
Part of that railway is included in the Jordanian main line from Aman to Akaba (Red Sea Port). Potash is mined along the line and is a main export at Akaba. Oil from the Emirates ans Saudi Arabia arrives at Aqaba, and I am unsure if there is a pipeline. This portion is used heavily, but I am not sure about regular passenger service.
Suspect you will get better information if you Google with the Romanization ‘Aqaba’.
As here: https://www.gem.wiki/Iraq-Jordan_Oil_Pipeline#Original_Pipeline_Plan
good correction thanks
“Very self-centered as if the world ends at their borders.”
Perhaps the Jordanians have reservations that if they make their network compatible , some of the more “expeditionary minded” among their neighbors might exploit it a path of conquest?
I had to look up the last time it happened and it was the infamous PLO doublecross of 1970-1971. Railways were not a factor. Too much trust by the Arabs in Arafat was.
My point being, enhanced access works for better AND for worse. And in that neigborhood I believe caution is a virtue. Never know WHO might come visiting.