An aerial photo of Baghdad Central station taken by Antonio Edward.
Posts Tagged ‘Baghdad’
Baghdad Central station from above
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008Baghdad metro plan is revived
Thursday, November 20th, 2008The Guardian of 18 November 2008 reports the revival of plans to build a metro in Baghdad, with money being set aside for a feasibility study.
Baghdad goes underground with $3bn metro plan
…
[On 17 November] the mayor of Baghdad surprised everyone by announcing plans for an underground train network that will literally carve a swathe through the city’s sectarian lines.If investors sign up, the world’s most violent capital will soon have a $3bn (£2bn) metro. Sabir al-Issawi, Baghdad’s mayor, said money had been set aside in next year’s budget for a feasibility study.
And if that goes ahead, the Iraqi government has earmarked funding that it claims could build most of the two mooted train lines without private help. Even the country’s eternal optimists were last night calling the plan ambitious, but lauding its audacity.
…
One of the new proposed subway lines would run 11 miles from Shia-dominated Sadr City in the east to Adhamiya in north Baghdad. The other would traverse 13 miles and link mixed central Baghdad to the primarily Sunni western suburbs.
Both lines would have 20 stations each
…
The project’s engineer Atta Nabil Hussain Auni Atta, of Iraq’s transport ministry, said old 1970s blueprints for the underground line were being redrawn to bring it up to speed with the specifications of modern railways.
Source: Guardian, UK
This map of a proposed two-line metro network was produced in the past
In July 1982 Railway Gazette International reported plans for a metro. Work was to start August 1983, for test running 1986:
| Construction phase | Line | Route | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Line 1 north to west | Thawra (depot)/Sadr City – Aadhamiya | 32km 36 stations. 60% bored tunnel, rest cut and cover |
| Line 2 south to east | Mansour (depot) (south) – Masbah (east) | ||
| Phase 2 | extensions | 11 km, 10 stations | |
| Phase 3 | Line 3 | In north of city |
Another 18 November 2008 report:
Iraq plans Baghdad metro to ease traffic
…
One metro line would run 18 kilometres from the far side of the eastern Shiite slum of Sadr City to the centre of the city and then up north to the mostly Sunni Adhamiyah neighbourhood, covering 20 stations.The second line, extending 21 kilometres, would start in the south and pass through the central commercial district of Karrada before crossing the Tigris river and running out to the mostly Sunni neighbourhoods in west Baghdad.
…
Source: AFP/Yahoo
Baghdad’s commuter train is beautiful but slow
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
All aboard the Baghdad Metro is an article by Tina Susman and Caesar Ahmed on the Los Angeles Times website.
Dated November 18 2008, it describes the recently introduced Iraqi Republic Railways commuter service in Baghdad, with a simple map.
Despite the story’s title, it is about an Iraqi Republic Railways “mainline” rail service, not a “metro” as such. A metro was proposed for Baghdad in the past, but not built.
“If this succeeds, I think they’ll open more lines inside Baghdad,” says Thafir Salim, the engineer [train driver] on the route, which leaves the main station and weaves about 15 miles through west and south Baghdad on just two round-trip journeys a day: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
There are six photos. Some show a Dalian DEM 2700 mainline locomotive, which seem to appear in most of the photos of IRR which I’ve seen, but some of the LA Times pictures seem to show a Tülomsas Bo-Bo diesel-hydraulic loco.
“It’s beautiful, but it’s slow,” says Mohammed Ali, a Baghdad University student who normally takes the taxi from his Dora home to school. But the first-time rider says he will keep taking it. “I think it’s more secure than the taxis,” he says. “What’s good here is there are no checkpoints, no traffic, no explosions.”
Baghdad commuter service starts up
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008Various news sources report the [re-?]start of commuter rail services in Baghdad at the end of October, which is good news.
AP has some photographs, A train arrives at al-Alawi railway station, central Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008
, showing DEM2727.
Baghdad Central station in 2005 (Photo by Mark Hemphill)
Commuter rail trains running in Baghdad to relieve traffic jams
by Fu Yiming, Jamal Hashim
…
The 25-kilomter commuter rail, a section of an old railway which had been damaged by the war and stopped running for years, came into operation just a few days ago.It shuttles between central Baghdad and the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah north of the capital or the mainly Sunni suburb of Yousifiyah in the south, which makes a handful of stops in both Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods. A ticket costs 1,000 Iraqidinars (equivalent to 80 cents).
“The train is faster than cars, it avoids stopping in traffic jams and dozens of checkpoints that people obliged to pass through,” a Transport Ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
….
At the main station in Allawi area in central Baghdad, metal detectors and body search conducted by male and female security members are set at several checkpoints.There are also walls that protect the railroad along with security forces protecting main and some stops for the train.
The anonymous Transport Ministry official said that “there are no security problems among those Sunni and Shiite districts, because situation is calm now” and there are also walls that protect the railroad along with security forces protecting main and some stops for the train, “but everybody knows that there is no 100 percent of guarantee for safety, not in every place in the world.”
[more]
Source: Xinhua
The official Iraqi Republic Railways website gives a timetable, but it doesn’t survive a Google translation:
News is very important
The company of the Iraqi Basthat railway line to transport people
As “the 10-27-2008 works on the side of Karkh to train
Services and absorb the momentum off in the Karkh side of the station
Central at 5.35 am, “passing” Mansour station at 5.50
And the field or drums session at 6.12 and the Abu Dshir to station
Yusufiya train at 6.25 am. “And leave the station for Yusufiya”
Baghdad at 6.50 am, “and hit the Abu Dshir 7.07 pm
Morning “and reach the station at 7.10 and 7.25 Mansour up station
Morning, “as up to the train station Kadhimiya at 7.50 am.” And again
Passenger b at 2.45. Aa train station Kadhimiya through “station
Mansour train at 3.09 b. And an AM or drums session at 3.27
B. AA and the Abu Dshir, to close at 3.45 b Yusufiya. Aa.
And re-boarding the train station at 4.00 pm Yusufiya, “passing”
Abu Dshir area in order “to the train station at 4.15 pm”
Access “to the train station at 4.46 pm Mansour” and up to station
Central Baghdad at 4.45 pm. ”Fare (1000) thousand dinars only
Source: Iraqi Republic Railways.
Baghdad Central station refurbishment
Sunday, August 24th, 2008It’s now a couple of years old, but I’ve just come across this article about modernisation work at Baghdad Central railway station.
The caption says This 1914 engine, capable of traveling 25 miles per hour, is the oldest Iraqi railway steam locomotive. It was retired in 1951 and is on display at the Baghdad Central Station.
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 EngineersBAGHDAD — 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.
