Jordan had 619 kilometers of single-track narrow gauge (1.05 meters) railroad tracks. The main system was the Hedjaz-Jordan Railway, part of the old Ottoman-era Hijaz Railway that had once connected Istanbul and the Arabian Peninsula. It ran north-south through the length of the country, and lay thirty kilometers east of the Desert Highway. Newer spur and branch lines constituted the Al Aqabah Railway Corporation, and connected Al Aqabah's port and mines to the main north-south axis. Both railroad entities came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transportation. The newer system was used almost exclusively for transport of phosphates from the mines at Al Hasa and Wadi al Abyad to Al Aqabah. In 1987, about 2.6 million tons of freight and 20,000 passengers were conveyed by rail. Rolling stock included 26 locomotives and 600 freight, passenger, and tanker cars. The government envisioned in the late 1980s upgrading capacity to 4.5 million tons a year.

Data as of December 1989