Built under Sultan Abdulhamid II in the early 1900s, Qadam Station is now nothing but rubble and charred carriages. Many Syrians hope to restore the building to its former splendor.
Qadam Station in Damascus was once the pride of the Syrian capital, linking Europe to the Arabian Peninsula under the Ottoman Empire, but more than a decade of war has left only rubble and bullet-marked walls , and charred wagons on site at the station.
In the aftermath of the fall of the Assad regime, many Syrians hope for its restoration and see in this reconstruction the opportunity to create a strong symbol of the country’s rebirth.
Mazen Malla grew up near the station. Like his father, uncles and grandfather, he worked as a train driver for many years, spending more than 12 hours in a locomotive.
“We considered the train and the automobile as part of us”he declared. “I didn’t see my own children as much as the automobile.”
Qadam Station was built under Sultan Abdulhamid II in the early 1900s, connecting Muslim pilgrims from Europe and Asia via what is now Turkey to the holy city of Medina, Saudi Arabia.
The railway quickly became the target of Arab fighters during an armed uprising during World War I, supported by Britain, France and other allied forces, which ultimately overthrew the Ottoman Empire.
In the following decades, the railway section was used to transport travelers between Damascus and its second city, Aleppo, as well as several cities and neighboring Jordan.
Then the building, used as a military base for the army, was damaged during the war.
During all the years when the Syrian army maintained control of the Qadam district, Mazem Malla stayed away from the station. When Assad was overthrown, the railway worker returned.
Today, he and others hope the railway can be cleared of its rubble and dark past and become a central part of Syria’s economic recovery.
The former railway worker hopes to one day be able to resume his activity at the station and that his son can continue the family tradition by working there too.
