Railways of Iraq

In some better news, Payvand’s Iran News reports

Tehran, 28 January 2006 (CHN) — Khoramshahr city in Khuzestan province is going to be connected to Basra through a railway line.

“Based on an agreement between Iran Ministry of Road and Transportation and Iraqi authorities, Iran and Iraq will construct railways to be connected to each other,” said Seyed Ali Akbar Mousavi, director of Arvand Free Zone Project.

The route of the railway will start from Khoramshahr, continue to the border city of Shalamcheh and then will connect to the city of Basra in Iraq. It was agreed that Iran be in charge of constructing the Khoramshahr-Shalamcheh railway while Iraq will build the Shalamcheh-Basra railway.

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Constructions of the said railways are expected to be completed by March 2007.

The Christian Science Monitor has a 1 March 2006 article on the current rather sorry state of IRR, with quotes on what has happened from some names which might be familar to readers of this site.

Those trains that do operate, do so infrequently. A ticket costs just 750 Iraqi dinars (50 cents), making it the cheapest form of transport, but few are willing to brave the journey. Just three largely empty passenger trains a week make the round trip from Baghdad to the northern city of Mosul. There’s an additional passenger train that makes erratic trips between the province of Babel, just south of Baghdad, and Basra. Freight trains, the backbone of the railways, are even scarcer.

The tracks are in such poor condition that the trains travel at half speed, just 40 km/h. What should be a six-hour trip to Mosul, instead takes 10.

I just had an e-mail asking:

Just wondering if you know when the Baghdad – Kirkuk (passing through Khanaqin) line was built? I’m based in Khanaqin and a local sheihk showed me a lantern from this railway.

According to Middle East Railways by Hugh Hughes, the metre-gauge line from Baghdad reached Tiaruq on the Persian frontier in January 1919, and was diverted to “a more useful terminus at Khanaqin” in 1922. The Jalula – Kingerban section dates from 1919, and was extended to Tuz Khurmatu (April 1925) and Kirkuk (August 1925).

It seems the line was taken out of service in 1987, when the standard gauge line from Baiji to Kirkuk was opened. A groundbreaking ceremony had been held in Baiji on February 8 1983, and the ceremonial inauguration was carried out by Minister of Communications Mohammed Hamza Al Zubaidi on November 7 1987.