IRAQ Railway Network

[Chounz]

Originally Posted by sheytanElKebir

Iraq wants to buy 10 passenger trains and has asked companies including France’s Alstom SA (ALO) to submit bids, according to the country’s railway company.
Chinese businesses including Datong Electric Locomotive Co. have been invited to submit bids, as have manufacturers in Turkey, Iran and Croatia, Jawad al-Kharsan, a spokesman for the national railway, said in an interview in Baghdad today. The winning company will have to supply two trains this year and the remaining eight by 2013, he said.
The two new trains will run on a track linking the capital Baghdad with the southern port city of Basra, he said. Iraq bought 40,000 tons of railway track worth $50 million two years ago to complete and upgrade Iraq’s railway grid, he said.
Iraq’s railway company has 100 passenger wagons that are out of service and has invited the same companies to rehabilitate 50 of them for five trains, Mohammad Ali Hashim, head of the mechanical engineering department at the railway company, said in a telephone interview in Baghdad.
The company also owns about 1,000 cargo wagons that are working and 4,000 that are out of service, he said.

Great news. This is what I wanna hear..

[sheytanElKebir]

they should use kylie to bring trains back in vogue.

[makaay31]

Nice documentary(1 year old)

[BigDreamer]

a tad bit melodramatic

[FromBaghdadWithLove]

Originally Posted by BigDreamer

a tad bit melodramatic

طلعو العراق يشبه السودان

[SumerianKing]

Iraqi Transportation Ministry announces launch of new railway projects

June 15, 2012 (15/6/12) -- By Mahmoud al-Mulhim in Baghdad
Technicians repair a broken rail in Baghdad. [Mahmoud al-Mulhim/Mawtani]

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Officials at the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation announced earlier this week the launch of a major overhaul and expansion campaign of the country's railway system.
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The new projects aim to expand the rail system to all Iraqi cities and connect more of country's rail lines with those of neighbouring countries to increase trade, passenger travel and tourism, said ministry media advisor Kareem al-Nouri.
Al-Nouri told Mawtani the expansion will affect major border crossing outlets, including the Zakho outlet to Turkey, the Safwan crossing to the Gulf states, two border crossing outlets at Khanaqeen and Basra, the Traibeel outlet with Jordan and the Rabia and Husaiba border crossings.
He said these projects include the rehabilitation and development of existing trains and lines, while the ministry has also signed agreements with foreign companies to import newer, more comfortable trains.
"We found that the cost of repairing the old trains is close to the purchase price of modern ones," al-Nouri said. "Therefore, agreements were concluded with Chinese and French companies, which have long experience in manufacturing trains, to meet Iraq's needs."
He added that the rehabilitated trains will be used for internal transportation of people and goods.
Due to acts of sabotage, "rail tracks in Iraq do not allow for high speeds […] so we settled for a maximum speed of 250 kilometres per hour," he said.
Baghdad-Basra line

Rafi Yusuf, director-general of the Iraqi railways company, told Mawtani that one of the new projects is the construction of a new line running from Baghdad to Basra that is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
"These projects will grow the company's financial revenues, which will help it pay back its loans," he said.
Company spokesperson Jawad al-Kharasan said the new projects "will help make the company profitable because it will win the trust of the people who have shunned travelling by trains between the provinces because of the ageing trains and the extent of the sabotage to which they were exposed".
"[Passengers and customers] will find a great difference, especially since they will be able to reach their destinations on the Baghdad-Basra line in half the time they used to spend," he said.
Al-Kharsan also said that 50 old train cars are scheduled to be refurbished by October.
In 2011, the state railway company signed a $50 million contract with Germany to buy 40,000 tons of steel tracks as a first step to building new lines inside Baghdad. New lines are also to be constructed in Karbala, Najaf and Babil provinces.

[sheytanElKebir]

good news. lets hope that the government at least forces the trade ministry and ministry of industry and minerals to use railways as a first step... leading by example, as they say

[sheytanElKebir]

This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.
The Mosul train station is empty after years of neglect. But local authorities say they want to revive railways here. It’s a sign of better conditions in the strife-torn city. But two similar projects have already failed. Can this one work?
Once this area, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, was bustling with passengers, buses, cars and the whistles of departing trains. Today the city’s train station is deserted and almost silent. Rusted wagons stand around, a pack of stray dogs roams the ruined buildings and somewhere in the distance one can faintly hear the sound of railway employees at work.
The railway station in Mosul, the capital of the state of Ninawa, was originally built after WWI by the British army and opened in 1938. Since then it has been a historical landmark in the troubled northern city – it bears the marks of Iraq’s past rulers and conflicts as well as the various festivals that it was used to host.
The station in Mosul was particularly well known because it was a stop on a sister route of the famous Orient Express, as well as part of the line which went from Berlin to Baghdad and which helped establish German dominance in the near Middle East in the early 20th century; the trains brought passengers of many different nationalities through Mosul.
But the railway was also obviously useful for locals. “For the people of Mosul, the train was a safe means of transport,” Ibrahim al-Allaf, a professor of contemporary history and the director of the Regional Studies Centre in Mosul, told NIQASH. “Ticket prices were low, the trains ran on time and the quality of service was excellent. I used it myself whenever I had to go to the universities in the capital. And hundreds of students used the trains too. It was a very reliable way of getting around.”

In fact, all kinds of people in Mosul – from students to soldiers – remember the train journeys, the train whistles and the ceaseless clattering of their wheels, with great fondness.
Which is why locals say they are pleased to hear that a decision has been made to reopen Mosul’s railway. The first stage of the renovation of the railways should see trains travelling between Mosul and the Rabia border crossing into Syria, around 100km south of Mosul, and also between Mosul and Qayyarah, around 60km south-west of Mosul.
“The government of Ninawa has said it will cover the maintenance costs for the trains and also other costs and supplies and an executive committee has been set up to do that. But we’re still waiting approval from the Ministry of Transport before we can begin,” Ali Mahmoud, the state government’s communications manager told NIQASH.
The real challenge lies not in renovating the railway station but the railway lines and also finding suitable staff. Former train drivers around Mosul are worried that there will be nobody to teach the new staff that will most certainly be required. “If we retire, there won’t be anyone to carry on,” one Mosul engine driver, currently unemployed, told NIQASH. “No new drivers have been recruited for a decade because there hasn’t been any money to do so.”
And then there are the railway lines. “Over the past seven years nobody has been able to finish work on the Mosul-Rabia lines,” Akram Ahmed, the head of railways in Iraq’s northern region, complained. “The trains’ speeds will barely reach 60kmh, which is well below the world average.” Most trains around the world, that are not high speed trains, travel at between 130kmh and 200kmh.

Ahmed has good reason for concern. This is not the first time that certain Iraqi rail schedules have been revived. Services to Aleppo in Syria and Gaziantep in Turkey were both resumed over the past couple of years but have both since been discontinued.
Additionally Ahmed pointed out that in the recent past, the train to Baghdad has virtually been empty. “Sometimes there were one or two passengers on board but that’s not financially feasible,” he argues.
“That’s why the service was suspended in the first place.” Part of the reason for a reluctance to travel by train had to do with security concerns: passengers worried about being targeted by extremists and the deterioration in infrastructure since the 1970s and 80s, when rail was a major mode of goods and passenger transport, meant there was also a danger of train accidents and miscommunication to worry about.
However conditions have changed significantly and it’s possible that the time for a rail revival is ripe. The Ninawa state authorities have already allocated IQD1.5 billion (around US$100,000) to restore the Mosul train station which was damaged by a truck bomb in 2009.
Back at the rail station though, nothing much has changed for Jasim Ahmed. Not yet anyway. The 60-year-old spends most of his day in a small room next to the maintenance workshop where the old trains are queued. He still doesn’t have any work to do and to kill time, Ahmed drinks tea and smokes. Puffing on his cigarette and watching the smoke evaporate, the city’s longest serving train driver, who’s been working for the railways for 43 years, recounts the station’s glory days.
He spent much of his time driving German-made Henschel trains and he’s heard the news about the renovations: he says he’s thrilled to hear that the station will be renovated and that services will recommence.
And he’s not alone. Many other locals are also waiting to hear the train whistles again. For the living, it is a sign of their city’s recovery from violence and conflict. And for the dead, well, the authorities say they also plan to restore the statue of renowned classical musician, Othman al-Mosuli, who passed away in 1923, that stands opposite the station.

[makaay31]

Basra Railway Station

[Chounz]

Love it.

Thanks for the pics!

[sheytanElKebir]

bless the railway workers. they are one of the few institutions left in Iraq who take pride in their work.

The fact that they have almost no budget, they still keep their stations clean and do their best with whatever materials they have to hand.

something rare in the "new" Iraq.

[BigDreamer]

it's so empty O__O not a single person

[josef hadi]

بغداد/ اور نيوز

وقعت الشركة العامة لسكك الحديد العراقية، مع شركة (DTC) الصينية عقدا نهائيا لاستيراد (10) قطارات متطورة فائقة السرعة بقيمة 115 مليون دولار.

*

وقال المتحدث بأسم الشركة جواد الخراساني إن "مدير عام سكك الحديد العراقية وممثل شركة (DTC) وقعا عقدا نهائيا لتجهيز العراق بعشرة قطارات متطورة فائقة السرعة بقيمة 115 مليون دولار".

وأوضح أن "كل قطار يتكون من ثماني عربات ويحمل كل قطار نحو 700 راكب وبسرعة 160 كم/س"، مشيرا الى أن "القطارات التي ستسلمها الشركة لسكك الحديد العراقية ستكون متكاملة مضافا لها المواد الاحتياطية لكل قطار وفقا لبنود العقد المبرم بين الطرفين".

واعلنت وزارة النقل، الجمعة، الماضية عن صدور موافقة اللجنة الوزارية للاعمار والخدمات على نتائج التعاقد مع شركة (دي اي سي) الصينية لتجهيز العراق بعشر قطارات متطورة، مبينة أن الكلفة الاجمالية للعقد بلغت 115 مليار دولار.

واعلنت الشركة العامة لسكك الحديد التابعة لوزارة النقل الاسبوع الماضي عن ابرامها عقداً أستثمارياً اولياً مع إئتلاف شركتين كوريتين لإنشاء الخط الوطني الذي يربط الفاو اقصى الجنوب بزاخو الى اقصى الشمال العراقي.

جدير بالذكر أن اول خط حديدي شكل في العاصمة بغداد عام 1869 في العهد العثماني كانت تجره الخيول ويسمى بـ(الكاري) ويعتبر العراق من البلدان الاولى التي استخدمت السكك الحديدية . وتعرض الاسطول الحديدي العراقي لإعمال السلب والنهب والتخريب بعد احداث** 2003 حيث توقف عملها بصورة كاملة حتى عام 2007 بعد تجهيز 158 قاطرة من مجموع 410 .

[Ali - Iraq]

وقعت الشركة العامة لسكك الحديد العراقية، مع شركة (DTC) الصينية عقدا نهائيا لاستيراد (10) قطارات متطورة فائقة السرعة بقيمة 115 مليون دولار

Sophisticated trains for $ 115 million? Nonsense.

واعلنت وزارة النقل، الجمعة، الماضية عن صدور موافقة اللجنة الوزارية للاعمار والخدمات على نتائج التعاقد مع شركة (دي اي سي) الصينية لتجهيز العراق بعشر قطارات متطورة، مبينة أن الكلفة الاجمالية للعقد بلغت 115 مليار دولار

Isn't it suppose to be million?

[sheytanElKebir]

I am guessing they are buying more DALIANs... but which ones?

[Chounz]

Is $15m not enough to buy a modern train? :S

[sheytanElKebir]

what does it include? just a locomotive? full rolling stock? no details...

[Ali - Iraq]

Originally Posted by Chounz

Is $15m not enough to buy a modern train? :S

A train which has a speed about 180km/h has a price of 40 million DM. A sophisticated railway system combining different cities:


"The Sanyo Shinkansen opened in 1972; the Tohuku Shinkansen and Joetsu Shinkansen opened in 1982; the Hokuriku Shinkansen opened in 1997, and the Kyushu Shinkansen opened in 2003. The sinkansen between Tokyo and Nagano, built for the 1998 Winter Olympics, reduced the travel time for the 120-mile distance between the two cities from three hours to 79 minutes but cost $7 billion (or $69 million a minute).""

Just to compare.

[Ali - Iraq]

Originally Posted by Chounz

Is $15m not enough to buy a modern train? :S

Differently not

[Chounz]

Originally Posted by sheytanElKebir

what does it include? just a locomotive? full rolling stock? no details...

No idea what those are hah.

Originally Posted by Ali - Iraq

A train which has a speed about 180km/h has a price of 40 million DM. A sophisticated railway system combining different cities:


"The Sanyo Shinkansen opened in 1972; the Tohuku Shinkansen and Joetsu Shinkansen opened in 1982; the Hokuriku Shinkansen opened in 1997, and the Kyushu Shinkansen opened in 2003. The sinkansen between Tokyo and Nagano, built for the 1998 Winter Olympics, reduced the travel time for the 120-mile distance between the two cities from three hours to 79 minutes but cost $7 billion (or $69 million a minute).""

Just to compare.

Wow ok, wasn't aware that trains were that expensive.

Shda3wa.