“A railway had been suggested in 1864 to relieve the suffering of the hajis on their 40-day journey through the wilderness of Midian, the Nafud, and the Hejaz Mountains. About 20% of them commonly died from starvation, thirst and diseases. The railway was basically a sub project of the Berlin-Bagdad Railway and started in 1900 at the behest of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II and was built by the German Civil Engineer Heinrich August Meißner and financed by the Deutsche Bank and strongly supported by the German Empire. A public subscription was opened throughout the Islamic world to fund construction. However, in 1912 the Ottoman Empire was owing the Deutsche Bank 29 million Turkey Pounds. The railway was to be a waqf, an inalienable religious endowment or charitable trust.” [King Hussein And The Kingdom of Hejaz, Randall Baker, Oleander Press 1979, ISBN 0-900891-48-3, page 18]
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