The starting point of the new railway was to be Konia. This town of 44,000 inhabitants, situated high in the Anatolian plateau, was a landmark in the Near East. It was once the capital of the Seljuk Turks and during its heyday had been a crossroads of the caravan routes of Asia Minor. Along one of these old routes to the northwest ran the Anatolian Railway, with which the Bagdad line was to be linked. From Konia the new railway was to cross the Anatolian table-lands, at an average altitude of 3500 feet, passing through the towns of Karaman and Eregli. Just beyond the latter town are the foothills of the Taurus, the first of the mountain barriers between Asia Minor and the Mesopotamian valley. In crossing the Taurus range the railway was to pass through the famous Cilician Gates, down the eastern slope into the fertile Cilician plain. At Adana, center of the trade of this region, a junction was to be effected with the existing railway to Mersina, a small port on the Mediterranean.[34]
Formidable engineering difficulties faced the succeeding stretch of the railway. Beyond Adana stood the second mountain barrier of the Amanus range, through which there was no natural pass, and it was apparent that costly blasting and tunneling would be required before the hills could be pierced.[35] Once beyond the mountains the railway could be carried quickly to Aleppo, a city of 128,000, "the emporium of northern Syria," and a meeting place for the Mesopotamian, Syrian, and Anatolian trade-routes. At this point connections were to be established with the important railways of Syria, providing direct communication with Hama, Homs, Tripoli-in-Syria, Beirut, Damascus, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. In fact, enthusiastic Syrians have prophesied that when all projected transcontinental railways are completed in Europe, Asia, and Africa, Aleppo will become "the crossroads of the
