The barrier was built a few years ago because of smuggling and terrorism, but when the tracks were laid there was nothing there. The country’s most storied ghost line is the Valley Railroad, built in 1905 by order of the Ottoman sultan as part of the grand Hijaz Railway project, meant as a leap into modernity for the Turkish Empire. The Valley Railroad made a connection, entirely logical and yet now inconceivable, between the port of Haifa in modern-day Israel and the city of Damascus, now in Syria. Israel and Syria became enemies 72 years ago, but when the railroad was built, neither existed. The basalt rail bridge from 1905 lies behind a formidable army gate topped with barbed wire; this is now the frontier with Jordan, and the bridge is in a buffer zone.

Source: International New York Times January 16, 2020 20:15 UTC