A grand building promising adventures untold, the Hejaz Railway Station building opened in 1917 to mark the starting point of the Ottoman-era narrow-gauge Hejaz railway from here to Medina. This route carried pilgrims 1300 km to the holy city in 72 hours – that's at lightning speed compared to the 40 days they needed previously when crossing the desert by camel caravan. Built in the new Islamic revivalist architecture style by the Spanish architect Fernando de Aranda, the passenger terminus has a European-looking wooden interior with original ticket windows and photos of past departures. No train traffic is possible here as the tracks have been dug up for a failed shopping mall project, though there have been talks with Turkey and Jordan to revive the line. For now, the hall is used for art exhibitions. A 1908 steam locomotive from the famed Arnold Jung factory in Germany is parked outside the building.
