The luxury train belonging to former ruler of Iraq, Saddam Hussein is to return to service.

Since the 1970s, the French-built train has been kept in a secret place in Baghdad.

The 23-carriage train will start to shuttle passengers between Baghdad and the southern city of Basra from September.

The “secret place” where the train was kept was Baghdad Central station, according to a report published in The Times on February 9 2008, alongside Platform 8, long since stripped of their gold and silver fittings.

Assuming this is the same plinthed loco as the one shown in the book Middle East Railways by Hugh Hughes, it is Baghdad Railway no.405, built by Borsig of Berlin as works no.8480 of 1912. It was originally an 0-6-0T, no.5.

Baghdad train station revitalized

Friday, 04 August 2006
Story and photos by Norris Jones
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

BAGHDAD — Karem recalled using Iraqi trains when he was a youngster.

Back then, the Baghdad Central Train Station was notorious for nonfunctioning restrooms and the foul odor of sewerage emanating from the basement. “But the trains themselves were always clean, comfortable and a great bargain,” the 33-year-old deputy resident engineer said.

Now Karem is overseeing a project that will not only re-introduce train travel to Baghdad, but will make the train station far better than he remembered as a child.

“Of the 19 projects I oversee, this is my favorite. I see the huge potential here,” he said. “Baghdad Central Train Station has the potential to generate many jobs – not only jobs directly connected with railroad operations, but also … taxi and bus drivers who would pick up passengers using the train station.”

In addition, more passengers coming through the train stations could generate more jobs at nearby hotels, shops and businesses, he said.

The $5.9 million project includes an all-new power plant and air conditioning system. “We have replaced all the electrical, water, and sewer lines. The roof and the plaster walls were replaced and the restaurant was rehabilitated,” Karem said.

The windows were replaced, all of the clocks were replaced and connected to one central system, and the broken mosaic floor tiles were replaced.

A new entrance was constructed. Two new seven-passenger elevators, new bathrooms and a hotel with 13 rooms were added along with a new fire alarm and sprinkler system. The train station was originally built by the British in 1954 and was considered the “Jewel of Baghdad” for travelers of the day. It offered telegraph services, a bank, a post office, shopping areas, a saloon and restaurant, and even had an office with printing presses which are still printing the train tickets.

“The overall structure was in great shape and we tried not to alter its historical look, despite the many improvements. If something needed to be added, we tried to match the same architectural style,” Karem said.

The project is nearing completion and Karem says a proposed $8 million maintenance facility for the locomotives and freight/passenger cars is now being considered.

“(The railroad is) the gateway to the world,” Karem said. “It’s a symbol of our freedom.”

Major Robert Nash, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officer who worked with Karem on the project, said he’s proud of Karem and the other 35 Iraqis who work on the station.

“Karem came here as a quality assurance representative, was promoted to project engineer, and is now one of our two Iraqi resident engineers,” he said.

“We worked together and helped put a plan in motion to increase the potential of what the Baghdad Central Train Station can become. It was just one of Sadaam’s toys and sat in a state of disrepair for decades.”

Although the number of trains being operated is limited, Nash is confident will regain the prominence it once had.

He looks forward to the day when he can fly into Baghdad International Airport, take a cab to the train station, and travel to any point in Iraq safely, securely and comfortably.

“Our Iraqi engineers are … building relationships that will last long after the last American has departed.”

Dan in the Desert has some 2006 photos of the station, including one showing the steam engine.

Saddam’s luxury train to return to service

Iraqi railway officials say Saddam Hussein’s personal luxury train will return to service next month.

Officials say the 23-carriage train will ferry passengers from Baghdad to the southern city of Basra.
(more…)

The train is described as French-built, with 23 carriages (more than one rake?) and three locomotives.

The locomotives have previously been reported as Thyssen-Henschel/EMD JT22CW locos DEM 2559, 2560 and 2561.

DEM 2561 is the loco on the right in this 2004 photo by Rick Degman.

Back in April 2003 The Times of Oman reported

Saddam’s phantom train is now a sorry sight

Saddam Hussein’s private train, which he never bothered to use, now sits vandalised and looted in a dark railyard in Baghdad’s deserted central station…Saddam preferred to travel by plane for security reasons…Three engines allocated for presidential use and another unit purely to supply electricity, glistening with new green paint, were built in 1984 by the German company Thyssen, as attested by a plaque fixed to their sides…The living quarters - five French-made carriages - comprised a lounge, a dining room, sleeping quarters and a seating area…

A recent photo of the sunderland mirror, by Phil Thirkell.

International Development
Afghanistan: Railways

Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what railway construction projects are (a) planned and (b) under way in Afghanistan.

Mr. Malik: Many bulk commodities are brought by rail to Afghanistan’s borders and then transported by truck around the country. In early 2006 Afghanistan began work on a railway project connecting Hirat [Herat] city to the Iranian border at Sangan. 60 per cent. of the project is funded by the Iranian Government. Discussion is under way on constructing lengthier railways in Afghanistan. However, there needs to be a very careful economic cost-benefit analysis of any major railway investments to ascertain whether this is the best use of investment resources as compared with other priority investments.

The Government of Afghanistan plan to focus on improving roads and airports as priority areas of transport over the next five to 10 years, as outlined in the draft Afghanistan National Development Strategy (AMDS) transport sector plan. Railhead transfer stations at the borders are likely to be improved so that the cost of changing freight from trains to trucks is lowered, thus lowering the cost of Afghanistan’s international trade.

Sangan in Iran’s Khorasan province is the terminus of a 148 km branch from Torbate-Heydariyeh.

Minister Spantas Press conference in Kabul

In the sidelines of this conference the Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan had a bilateral meeting they talked about the cementing of the bilateral ties between the countries, construction of a railway track from the border areas of Turkmenistan to Afghanistan and various issues of interests came under discussion.

As part of the contract with a Chinese consortium for the exploration of the Aynak copper deposit, a railway line will be constructed which will connect Central Asia to South Asia, thereby expediting the transport of people and goods within the region and beyond.

The suggestions of passenger transport, and a through north-south link, are interesting.

The project was announced last November. A consortim of China Metallurgical Group Corporation and Jiangxi Copper Co would build a railway line from the town of Hairatan on the Amu Darya bordering Uzbekistan, through Logar and to Torkham on the Pakistan border to export the minerals.

There is a link to a handy map of Uzbekistan’s railways.

An earlier posting on Registan.net, Termez, Where the “T” Is for “Transit”, considers the problems of supplying NATO in Afghanistan. The few rails that operate along the Amu Darya have major rail break problems, in that they operate at a different gauge than their neighbors. This tells me freight can make it only as far as Termez, and from there is must be either shipped or flown to its final destination.

This is not quite right - the break-of-gauge is between the former USSR and elsewhere (except Finland and Mongolia, which use “Russian” gauge). There are transhipment and dual-gauge facilities around the various borders, so a wagon could in theory run from (say) Poland to Afghanistan without the gauge being an issue.

The two existing lines in Afghanistan are to the 1520 mm Russian gauge, though the line from Iran will presumably be standard gauge.

There is a reference to sound mirrors (and this website!) in the University of Florida’s Journal of Undergraduate Research, Volume 9, Issue 2. November/December 2007.

Nikolas Zawodny’s paper on the Design and Fabrication of a Phased Acoustic Array to Analyze Noise Generation of Aircraft Components does what it says on the tin, though there appears to be lots of hard sums involved.

Early techniques of airframe noise analysis involved the concept of an “acoustic mirror,” which consisted of a single microphone positioned in the acoustic far field of a large concave elliptical mirror. The origin of acoustic mirrors can be traced back to the north and southeast coasts of England in the early 1920s, where they were used to provide early warning of incoming enemy aircraft planning to attack coastal towns. These coastal “listening ears” were eventually rendered obsolete with the development of faster aircraft and the invention of radar.

The date is actually slightly out, as some mirrors were built during World War I.

A Russian-language page on the Autogena proposal for modern cross-Channel sound mirrors, with some rather familiar looking photos. “слушающие уши” seems to be listening ear, and “звуковые зеркала” is sound wall. Google translates the title of the article as “Stone ears teach people to shout through the English Channel”.

The vodka is good, but the meat is rotten?