Older Iraqi railway news
Some older news stories about Iraq's railways. Thanks to everyone who has contributed information - the site's readers are very grateful! More recent stories are on a separate page.
Some of the links (especially to photographs) will eventually expire as news agencies update their sites, so if you find any pictures you like it is best to save them on your computer straight away, as they might not last long. I can't put copies of the pictures you will see on the big news websites on this site, as they cost money - and the photo agencies have lawyers, I don't!
2003
- An article dated in the Independent of December 12 describes a visit to the main Baghdad station and engine sheds.
...there have been 31 attacks on the Baghdad-Basra track in the past seven months, at least 40 on the line to Mosul, and daily sabotage on the passenger service to Qusaybah.
- 2003-12-07. The December 2003 issue of Steam Railway claims an 8F has survived in Baghdad.
- 2003-12-07. Trade Union delegation to Iraq. Visit to rail workers. A report dated 2003-10-14
A delegation of trade unionists from Britain visited the main workshops of the Railways of the Iraqi Republic in central Baghdad on Monday 6th October to meet with Iraqi railway workers who are fighting to establish an independent and democratic trade union.
Some photos of staff and DEM2701, and a DEM25xx. - 2003-12-07.
Iraqi policemen inspect a freight train which derailed after an explosive device went off on Saturday evening, on the northern outsirts of Samarra, 120 miles north of Baghdad.
. The photo shows DEM2719 on its side at the bottom of a low embankment. - 2003-12-03. Bechtel's Iraq Project Update to U.S. Congress. Rail. Detailed inspections continue on earthwork and structures construction work, as well as detailed surveys of Port of Umm Qasr track that will be rehabilitated. Subcontracts for earthwork construction, concrete structures, and general services continue to be awarded. Iraqi Republic Railways has progressed with its rolling stock repair work, as part of an integrated construction program with Bechtel.
- 2003-11-14. Syria-Iraq Railway To Resume Activity.
...the Syrian and Iraqi railroad companies have reached an agreement to reactivate a weekly passenger train between the Syrian town Aleppo and the Iraqi town Mosul, for the first time since the beginning of military operations in Iraq. ... the first train will depart on the evening of Friday, November 21.
- 2003-11-13. The AP report Iraqis Say Saddam Not Leading Attacks says
a former Iraqi general who claims to be part of the insurgency against U.S. troops says
...Their claims to be active in guerrilla operations could not be independently confirmed, but there was some indirect evidence that supported their accounts. Without providing details on a site or timing, the engineer said a bomb had been planted on a nearby railway in preparation for attacking a train; three days later, on Saturday, an explosion derailed a train causing damage but no injuries.
- 2003-11-13. US-controlled Iraq opens new rail link with Syria despite sanction campaign.
The railway linking the Syrian town of Aleppo to Mosul in northern Iraq is scheduled to re-open on November 21, 2003 ... The train will depart Aleppo Thursday nights and will make five stops during the 11-hour journey to Mosul, reported SANA. The 745-kilometer railway was first restored in 2000 after a decade-long interruption following Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
- 2003-11-06. Locomotive DEM-2725 derailed by sabotage near Tikrit on 5 November.
- 2003-11-05
An Iraqi rail worker and Sgt. John King, rail worker supervisor of the Army Reserve's 757th Trans. Det. 1 (Rail) adjust rail at the Port of Umm Qasr. Det 1 is responsible for the staging of rail cars for load up of cargo, supervising Iraqi rail workers performing switching ops, and maintenance of track and locomotives.
(Photo from the army website). - 2003-10-30. ...explosions Thursday that set a freight train on fire
The freight train was carrying military supplies near Fallujah west of Baghdad, when an improvised bomb set four shipping containers ablaze. No casualties were reported, but the attack sparked a looting frenzy by Iraqis who carried off computers, tents, bottled water and other supplies.
- 2003-10-09. Reports of a US supply train hitting a mine and derailing. Canadian televison showed
a short clip on TV of the loco on its side and some container cars derailed
. - 2003-10-04. A very interesting e-mail provides some up to date information:
I have recently been out to Iraq and as an ex British Railways employee have retained an interest. ... I return to Iraq on the 7th Oct. The line from Shaibah Junc (Immam Annas) to Umm Qasr is currently being cleared of UXO so that it can be doubled. The shunting yard at Umm Qasr was still out of use on my last visit Aug 2003 with derailed vehicles still in evidence. The signal box and associated yard buildings having been wrecked and looted. All the signals in the area are still in place at the time of writing. All the road crossing boxes and equipment between Umm qasr and Shaibah Junction have been looted and all the equipment stolen including the barriers, although parts of some ancient looking mechanical signaling equipment is in evidence at two locations. The Branch lines to AZP (Az Zubayer Port and the fuel tanker unload facility (called by the Brits Hectors Point) are clear and operating. There is quite a lot of traffic eminating from UQ port mainly container boxes heading all points North.
- UNJLC Iraq Fuel Bulletin no. 24 says
consideration is being given to importing an average of 120 tonnes [of LPG] per day in by rail to the north, above and beyond existing trucked northern imports.
...At many [oil] loading points, insufficient power limits the loading and downloading capacity for trucks and rail cars; ...
- 2003-09-06. The October issue of Railway Magazine has a letter asking about Iraqi railways, and a reply based on the article in the July issue of Trains.
- 2003-09-06. Trains magazine has a letter describing the current state of Iraqi railways.
- 2003-08-20. Iraq-Syria rail links back on track.
The journey from Baghdad to the Syrian border takes 15 hours and it is expected that two trains a week will run initially, reports the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association
- 2003-08-19. Bechtel describes its Iraqi rail activities.
In the rail sector, rehabilitation efforts are now focused in Basrah. Rail team management has held a kickoff meeting with USAID, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Iraq Republic Railway (IRR) representatives in Basrah to present the work background, scope, division of responsibilities, and execution approach.
USAID has approved a job order to replace 50-year-old track with 72 kilometers (48 miles) of new track in the Port of Umm Qasr, up to the main line near Basrah. The work, scheduled to take one year, will be executed as an integrated project between Bechtel and the IRR. Iraqi contractors and the IRR will perform all construction work.
A USAID/Bechtel photo showing a damage assessment of a rail line in Al Fathah. on 2003-05-27.
- 2003-08-07. TCDD to Repair Broken Railway Cars in Iraq.
According to the agreement between Iraq and Turkey, the repair of Iraq's broken railway cars are to be done by Turkish State Railways (TCDD) facilities and its sub-structures. Iraq will send a technical team to Turkey to oversee the process.
- 2003-08-07. There was a derailment in the port at Umm Qasr. Here are some US Army photos from a correspondent, showing a bogie flat wagon and a container which fell off. The train derailed at 17:00, but was fixed in time for the 00:15 departure.
- 2003-08-07
The first train from Turkey arrived in Iraq on the 3rd August. An agreement between the Turkish Government and the Iraqi authorities is in process of being formulated to regularise this cross border service.
UNJLC Iraq Bulletin No.24. - 2003-07-31
On the 29th July, the Iraqi railways were hit by two acts of sabotage. One bomb blew up the tracks 153 kms north of Baghdad while the second took out a section 43km south of the capital. These events occur following a statement from the Iraqi Railway authorities that services between Syria and Iraq will be resumed with the first Syrian train scheduled to arrive in Baghdad mid week.
UNJLC Iraq Bulletin No.23. - 2003-07-30
Syria and Iraq re-establish rail interchange
Trains newswire.
Syria and Iraq have resumed a railroad link between the countries, according to a report by AFP. The first freight train with interchange cars was due to arrive in the Iraqi capital today, the first service since the beginning of hostilities in March. A Turkish delegation has also been reported in discussion with Iraq about resuming rail service between those two countries. - A Syrian train crosses the border Rabiyah between the neighboring Syria as part of the resumed rail service between the two countries (includes photo of Syrian loco)
- Another photo.
- 2003-07-30
Iraq, Syria to resume railway link.
A Syrian freight train is due in Baghdad this week, the Iraqi rail company said today, marking the resumption of rail links between the two countries broken since the Iraq war was launched on March 20. ... bring to Iraq several empty oil tankers held in Syria at the start of the conflict ... In its current dilapidated state, the train would run twice a week and take about 15 hours to reach Baghdad from the Syrian border, he said.
- 2003-07-24
The Coalition are operating a railway service from Umm Qasr to Baghdad and then onto other locations including Mosul, Al Taji and Bayji. The goal over the next few weeks is to operate 3 trains per day. The Iraqi railways currently have 35 engines in working order.
UNJLC Iraq Bulletin No.22. - 2003-07-21
The railways system in Iraq is working at 25% capacity in relation to it's pre-war levels. The majority of the activities are related to transporting containers for the CPA from Basrah into central Iraq.
UNJLC Iraq Bulletin No.21. - 2003-07
The Director-General of Iranian Islamic Republic Railways, Mohammed Saeed-Nejad, has confirmed that RAI is studying plans for a cross-border rail link between Khorramshahr and the Iraqi city of Basra.
Railway Gazette International, July 2003 (p421). - 2003-06-26
After investigating the Iraqi Railway Network, the CPA has reported that there are 418 serviceable rail cars. WFP experts are concerned that the lack of spare parts in the Iraqi railway inventory may bring the system to a halt in a couple of months. UNJLC was requested in facilitating letters of credit (LCs) to be issued for two rail contracts for the purchase of 50 Chinese locomotives and a fourteen piece train set.
UNJLC Iraq Bulletin No.18. - 2003-06-07
Nightmare train journey to nowhere on the ramshackle Saddam express. Another description of a trip from Baghdad to Samawah (also see the report of 2003-06-04 below), hauled by DEM2706.
The rolling-stock is French, from the 1970s and falling to pieces ... The crumbling industrial suburbs of Baghdad are drifting by outside - a bit like the stretch of line between Sandwell and Dudley and Birmingham New Street.
- 2003-06-04 Iraq's Trains Are Looted, Late - But Running.
Trains have been running again only for the past two weeks, but already the Iraqi Railroad company has begun daily service from Baghdad to Basra, Mosul and the Syrian border.... the 10- to 12-hour trip to Basra costs 1,000 dinars... a first-class sleeper seat is 2,000 dinars and a bus ticket is 5,000 dinars...There were only five cars on the Basra train, all of them undergoing extensive repairs as the train rolled along. ... A train heading north to Baghdad was blocking the rails. The railroad workers waited about two hours and then advised those who were in a hurry, and could afford it, to seek other transportation.
(includes two photos) - 2003-05-11 'Secret train' the Americans don't seem to be asking questions about.
...Seven years ago, he said, plans were drawn up to create missile launchers on rails. The idea was rejected by Saddam, who concluded that the launchers would be easy to detect by military satellite and would provide a simple target for US and British warplanes...
...he and two of his colleagues described a train - about which they dared not speak during the Saddam years - that moved constantly around the railway system, and which they believe might have contained chemical weapons, although they admit to being unsure.
According to Mr al-Kinani, the train first appeared around 1996. Its wagons were brown, unmarked and cylindrical. He said it usually had four or five wagons, although these were sometimes mixed with ordinary rolling stock to disguise it. Discussion of its movements, or even its existence, by rail staff was forbidden. It was usually attended by troops from the Special Republican Guard, he said.
This all sounds a bit odd; maybe something has been lost in the translation? - 2003-05-07 Train service resumes in Iraq.
The first passenger train to leave Baghdad since the war pulled out Wednesday morning, and an anxious Sadak Mohammed was not about to miss it. ... a 10- to 12-hour trip with at least five stops... A passenger ticket on the train costs 1,000 dinars (about 52 cents), a first-class sleeper seat is 2,000 dinars and a bus ticket is 5,000 dinars...
- 2003-04-28 Trains roll from Mosul to Baghdad again (30K PDF). Issue 3 of The Iraqi Destiny newsletter mentions railways
- 2003-04-23
Overview of The Basra to Umm Qasr Railway Network (34KB Word document) by the Royal Logistic Corps.
The Rail-Road / Train system from Umm Qasr to Basrah, from Basrah to An Nasiriyah, and potentially from An Nasiriyah to Baghdad is as good as it was before the war and by Iraq standards the infrastructure is ready for use. The Railway system does not and has never met US or UK rail standards. Massive amounts of Food and HA shipments can be accomplished by rail. No immediate reconstruction work on the rails is required. Some minor repairs are or will be required but can be accomplished by the Iraq railway men if they have the spare parts and or tools.
- 2003-04-20 Basra rail link reopens.
Today's set piece opening saw the train go around half-an-hour down the line, stopping some way short of Basra. But Bowlt said engineers had already moved rolling stock down from Basra and had now declared the route safe to operate.
- 2003-04-19 All aboard the Basra express.
The first train of post-Saddam Hussein Iraq has left the southern port of Umm Qasr on a journey to Iraq's second city, Basra.
- 2003-04-19 Iraqi Rail Line Formally Reopens.
As a British military band played "When the Saints Come Marching In," the newly minted Umm Qasr town council cut a white ribbon and the Chinese-made engine pulled out of the port station with four passenger cars on a test run...On the railroad, Iraqi crews, working under British military supervision, repaired the line within three weeks. The original tracks were built by the British around the turn of the century [this is probably incorrect], and much of the rail line had fallen into disrepair over the past decade... "There's been some damage from the conflict. But on the whole, the line's pretty much intact. Most of the damage is from neglect and lack of machinery," said Llewellyn. ... Watching the landscape hurtle past, council member Mahdi recalled that the last time he rode a train was in the early '90s, when passenger service was more rudimentary than the air-conditioned cars rolling along Saturday. Back then, carriages were without windows, doors, even cushions, he said.
- 2003-04-19 Basra rail link opens
- 2003-04-19 Train to Basra Restarts, to Be Aid Link Into Iraq.
Saturday's trial-run trip from the port near Iraq's border with Kuwait ventured just 20 miles of the 35 miles north to Basra ... For the past five years, the train service had carried only freight and no passengers.
- 2003-04-19 British forces reopen important railway in southern Iraq.
An important railway line in Iraq has been reopened on Saturday, allowing the transport of aid from the southern port of Umm Qasr to Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.
- 2003-04-09 ABCNEWS.com reports:
Far from fighting in Baghdad and the search for banned weapons in Iraq, the effort to open the flow of humanitarian aid continues in the port of Umm Qasr. British engineers have repaired the railroad tracks, allowing supplies off loaded ships to be moved easier to the warehouse a mile away. Food, water and other items are then trucked to other northern points.
- 2003-04-07 Suffolk officer gets Iraq back on track.
...Commander of the Bicester-based rail troop of 17 Port and Maritime Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps...has already successfully reintroduced a 3-mile rail system to transport shipments of thousands of tonnes of humanitarian aid at the port of Umm Qasr.. "we have received reports that there may be a new Chinese locomotive in the Basra area."
. - 2003-04-07 The Hull Daily Mail reports that the 16th Air Assualt Brigade were surveying a "disused" railway linking Engabashir with Umm Qsar.
Captain Finoa Steele said her priority was to get the railway... working again. She said "we have made contact to get drivers back to work. The people rely on this railway which is why we are trying to get it up and running."
This looks like the same report: Railway village delighted with water - 2003-03-17 Iraqi dissidents turn to sabotage
20 miles south of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where members of the Iraqi opposition blew up a stretch of track on the Mosul-Baghdad railway, causing the derailment of a train.
2002
- 2002-06-16 Proposal of Damascus to activate IRAN - IRAQ - SYRIA railway
- 2002-05-19 Iranian Railways connects to Iraq Railways from Khorramshahr
- 2002-04-04 China Exports Locomotives to Iraq for First Time.
The DF10FI locomotive has a capacity of 1 840 kW, and a top speed of 140 kph
. - 2002-03-26 Syria, Iraq sign transport agreement.
Iraqi railways company already operates two weekly links between Aleppo and Baghdad, and Aleppo and Mossul
- 2002-02-17 Syria, Iran and Iraq Establish New Rail Link
- 2002-02
A delegation of Iraqi Transport Ministry officials was due to join Foreign Secretary Naji Sabri on a visit to Iran at the end of January to discuss proposals for construction of a Baghdad - Tehran rail link.
Railway Gazette International February 2002 - 2002-01-02 India to sign MoU on railway projects with Iraq for
a state-of-the-art skybus network in Baghdad and a 250-km railway line from Baghdad to Mushaba
- 2002-02-01 Railways-for-oil deal with Iraq soon
2001
- 2001-09
Through passenger services have resumed between Iraq and Turkey. Since July a weekly train has operated between Baghdad, Mosul and the Turkish city of Mardin.
Railway Gazette International September 2001. - 2001-08
The Ministry of Railways in Iraq is reported to have received bids for a turnkey contract to build a 112km belt railway around Baghdad, based on designs prepared by Italian consultancy Sotecni.The project also includes an 11km four-track route from the belt line to Baghdad Central.
Railway Gazette International August 2001. - 2001-07-14 Iraq to resume regular train service with Turkey after 20 year break
- 2001-07-05 Railways line between Iraq, Turkey re-opened
- 2001-06-24 Iraq to resume train trips to Turkey
- 2001-05-06 Turkey reopens Iraq rail-link
- 2001-04-20 CZECHS TO SUPPLY ENGINES FOR IRAQI RAILROADS.
The Diesel International (DI) company of the Czech Republic has received a contract worth 140 million crowns ($3.7 million), according to a report in the Prague newspaper Hospodarske Noviny of 10 April
. - 2001-01-04 Iraq, Turkey to operate the railway line
- 2001-01-03 Jordan, Iraq revive the railway line project
2000
- 2000-10-13 Iraq ready for Turkey rail link
- 2000-09
Rail services between Iraq and Syria resumed on August 1 after a break of 19 years. Reopening of the border at El Yaroubieh and restoration of Mosul - Aleppo services followed discussions between new Syrian President Bachar el Assad and Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed al Sahaf in July.
Railway Gazette International September 2000. - 2000-08-04 SYRIA-IRAQ RAIL LINK TO REOPEN. Rail service between Syria and Iraq is to resume on 11 August, AFP reported. Service was suspended in 1981.
- 2000-01-14 Severe lack of railway equipment in Iraq.
An Iraqi statement issued today said that the railway system in the country suffers from a severe lack of equipment and spare parts, which negatively effects the interior transportation movement, especially transferring supplies exported to Iraq according to agreements with the UN.
Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 5 of resolution 1360 (2001)
The current status of the railway system poses serious constraints to moving humanitarian cargo from Umm Qasr to Baghdad and other destinations. Iraqi Republic Railways has submitted contracts to increase the rail hauling capacity, improve track conditions and ensure the safety of operations. An improvement in the availability of locomotives and some progress in the renewal of the railway line have been observed. However, the renewal of the railway line, which is subject to daily closures of portions of the main line for periods of up to 10 hours, is progressing at a very slow pace, as some critical equipment, such as tamping machines, flush butt-welding machines and bulldozers, remain on hold. Most of the contracts for signalling and communication system also remain on hold. The non-approval of those contracts, comprising fibre-optic and complementary equipment, VHF radio communication systems and copper communication cables, hinders improvement of the operational capacity of the railways, which could be achieved with the improvements made in the other operational sectors. In addition, it poses serious safety risks in the operation of freight and passenger trains.
Thanks to Tim Moriarty, Pat Mcdurmon, Jean-Patrick Charrey, Bill Battle, Anon, Nick Lawford, Dan Rohrback, Andrew Baird, Niklas Bygdestam, Ian Hughes, Gordon Mott and many many others for news and links.
