 After his assault on the British garrison along the canal in January–February 1915, Jamal Pasha enlisted the help of the German engineer Heinrich August Meissner, who also planned the Hejaz Railway, to help him find a more efficient method of logistics.Meissner started constructing a railway to the south of the Palestine region, with the Wadi Surar station of the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway, some 15 km south of Lod railway station, serving as the starting point.At Al-Tina, the railway split into two branches