Interests of the actors in the Turkey-Saudi Arabia Transport Corridor

The signing of memorandums between Turkey and Saudi Arabia to revive the historic Hejaz Railway and establish a fibre-optic corridor marks the beginning of a major transport project that could reshape the Middle East’s logistics map and challenge existing routes through Iran, Iraq, and Israel.

The Status of the Turkey-Saudi Arabia Corridor

On June 9, 2026, Turkey and Saudi Arabia signed two important memorandums of understanding (MoU) to revive the historic Hejaz Railway corridor through Syria and Jordan and to establish a terrestrial fiber optic route, providing six $800 million terrestrial fiber corridors from Saudi Arabia to Turkey.

Turkey’s efforts to establish itself as a transit hub for transport and logistics between Europe and Asia have intensified.

Meanwhile, the 127-kilometer-long “Istanbul North Rail Corridor” or INRAIL project is set to connect the two sides of the Bosphorus and increase the rail capacity of the Bosphorus from three million tons per year to about 50 million tons.

Also, Turkey’s hopes for a $6-7 billion loan from Islamic financial institutions and oil-rich Arab countries to further develop corridors in line with Turkey’s national interests have intensified.

With the new geopolitical changes, the US war in the Persian Gulf, and the restriction of passage through the Strait of Hormuz, Turkey has increased its efforts to maintain stability, or a “survival strategy,” and preserve Turkish trade.

In fact, Turkey’s interest in various options to strengthen regional connectivity through Syria, transfer energy, goods, and food, reactivate regional land and rail transportation projects to support supply chains, and provide alternatives to the Hormuz and Red Sea sea routes has expanded significantly. So, in recent months, Turkey’s transit interactions with Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia to develop corridors have also expanded notably.

In a multilateral format, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan signed a trilateral memorandum of........

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