Jordan is inviting investors to support a $300m railway line between Amman and Queen Alia International airport, which will follow the alignment of the Hejaz Railway, the MEED Mena Rail & Metro Summit in Dubai was told on 6 October.

The line will be 32 kilometres long and have 12 stations, Jordan Hejaz Railway deputy director Abdullah Malkawi said. He said plans call for the line to be extended to Zarqa, Jordan’s second city.

In April, Jordan’s Transport Ministry invited prequalified companies to submit proposals for the contract to construct the Shidiya rail link. That project is being financed by a JD53m ($74.8m) grant from the Saudi Fund for Development.

The proposed rail link will facilitate the transport of 6 million tonnes a year (t/y) of phosphate from mines in Shidiya to Wadi al-Yutum near Aqaba.