Archive for the ‘Iraq's railways’ Category

Iran – Iraq link

Monday, January 14th, 2008

Railways Africa reports that a 15km line between Khorramshahr and Shalamcheh is nearing completion

Monday, 07 January 2008
According to an Iraqi transportation ministry announcement, the Baghdad government “’strongly supports” the implementation of a proposed rail project linking Iran and Iraq.

The Al-Alam TV network quoted Iraq Railways Javad Al-Khorrasan saying: “During the first phase of the project, a railway will cross from Basra and head to Iran via Shalamcheh.”

In terms of a second plan, a line is envisaged from Baghdad via the north west of Iraq to Monzariyah and thence into Iran.

New York Times 1879 report

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

The projected Afghan railway is a report from the New York Times of 26 October 1879 about plans for a railway to Kandahar from Shikarpore, in what was then British-ruled India but is now Pakistan. Some of the attitudes towards the peoples of the region are firmly in the “they don’t write them like that any more” category.

ASLEF article on IRR

Sunday, December 23rd, 2007

The December 2007 issue of the ASLEF Journal, the in-house magazine of a UK railway trade union, has a one-page article entitled “A long way to go for Iraq’s railways“. This says

  • Baghdad – Basra was discontinued last year and remains closed
  • “only about 10 people a day board the 10-hour trip from the capital to Mosul – and that nearly of them are railway employees.”
  • “various outposts [...] manage to run limited local trains, but it is in the face of terrorists threats and criminal gangs.”
  • “The remote railhead in the desert at al-Qaim runs infrequent and unreliable services …”

Download the magazine as a PDF. The Iraq article is on page 11.

Kuwait – Iraq railway planned

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

Kuwait’s Arab Times reports, unfortunately without a date,
Italian railway experts due

An Italian technical delegation specialized in railway projects will arrive in Kuwait next week to meet with officials at the Ministry of Communications to discuss ways to link the country’s railway project with the Iraqi railway network, reports Al-Watan. The Italian delegation, which is responsible for operating the Iraqi railway network, will meet with Communications Ministry Undersecretary Eng Abdul Aziz Al-Osaimi and Assistant Undersecretary for Transport Sector Nabeel Al-Tarkeet.

The delegation had earlier visited the country and met with the Transport Sector officials to review the technical figures, statistics and data as a prelude for preparing an integrated technical concept to be referred to the Ministry to discuss the possibility of linking the railway networks in Iraq and Kuwait. Sources said Kuwait’s railway project is still in the evaluation and study phase in preparation for inviting international consultancy offices to provide bids for this major national project.

Club Feroviar has something similar dated 29 November 2007:
Possible rail line between Irak and Kuweit

Next week, an Italian delegation, responsible for the operability of the railway trasnport network in Irak will meet the State Subsecretary of the Communications Ministry in Kuweit, Eng Abdul Aziz Al-Osaimi, to discuss the unification possibilities of railway networks in Irak and Kuweit. The Irakian Transport Ministry’s officials analized the statistics and information given in the process of unification through railway networks of the two countries. This particular project will be handed in to the Minsitry.
The railway line Kuweit project is in the study and evaluation phase, as to announce the participation in tender.

There are currently no “conventional” railways in Kuwait (unless you know differently?), though there is reported to be a railway in the Entertainment City/Al-Madina Al-Tafrihi theme park.

I think this is the theme park:

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It had a Crown Metal Products 3ft gauge 4-4-0 loco, but it seems this was taken to Baghdad during the 1991 conflict. Severn-Lamb Ltd supplied a replacement. This aerial photo appears to show a narrow gauge train in Zarwa park in Baghdad, perhaps the one stolen from Kuwait?


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There has been some talk of building a metro in Kuwait, though this may not be too serious. There have also been rumours of plans to build a freight line between the docks and a US military base, taking trucks off the roads.

DEM2717 south of Baghdad

Saturday, December 8th, 2007

Chris Curtis served in Iraq with the US infantry, and has sent me this photo of a short IRR train hauled by loco DEM2717 which he took “just south of Baghdad” in 2005.

DEM 2717 south of Baghdad© Chris Curtis

The 50 locos in the DEM2700 class were built by Dalian Loco in China, and delivered to Iraqi Republic Railways from 2002.

More pics

The UK’s Defence Image database has a few pictures of railways in Iraq dated 26/11/03, which can be found if you search for railway. I can’t figure out if the copyright rules let me put them here or not, but try these links

  • http://tinyurl.com/2ctvay Members of A Company, 1st Battalion The Royal Scots. On foot patrol in Az-Zubayr south of Basra.
  • http://tinyurl.com/2c824p A member of A Company, 1st Battalion The Royal Scots with Iraqi children, on foot patrol in Az-Zubayr south of Basra crosses rail tracks.
  • http://tinyurl.com/2efxbb A child sits on a rusting railway carriage [actually a freight wagon] as he watches members of A Company, 1st Battalion The Royal Scots on foot patrol Az-Zubayr south of Basra.