The Hejaz (also Hedjaz) Railway was a narrow gauge railway ( track gauge) that ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia, with a branch line to Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a part of the Ottoman railway network and was built to extend the line from the Haydarpasa Terminal in Istanbul beyond Damascus to the holy city of Mecca. It got no further than Medina, short of Mecca, due to the interruption of the construction works caused by the outbreak of World War I. Damascus to Medina is .