Rayak Railway Station in the Bekaa Valley opened in 1895 with the Beirut–Damascus railway. Its position turned Rayak into a junction between Lebanon, Syria and wider regional routes, while an extensive workshop complex repaired rolling stock and manufactured replacement parts.
An official Lebanese Army history records that Lebanese workers later converted locomotives from coal to petroleum fuel. Rayak was therefore more than a passenger platform: it was an industrial centre whose skills kept an international network moving.
