IRAQ Railway Network

[BigDreamer]

The Iraq Railway network is one of the most fundamental construction projects currently under construction in Iraq.

Iraq has one of the oldest railway networks in the middle east. It is linked to Syria and Turkey (and onto Europe).

Billions of dollars are to be invested in the coming years to rehabilitate and expand the network

Map of major railways:

[BigDreamer]

2nd Stage Hilla-Basra Railway Opens

(MENAFN - Aswat Al-Iraq) Iraqi Minister of Transport Amer Abduljabbar opened the 50-km-long second stage of the Hilla-Basra railway project, according to the Babel province's railways department chief on Sunday.

"Minister Abduljabbar inaugurated the second stage of the project which linked al-Hashemiya district to al-Diwaniya city as part of the larger Hilla-Basra project," Anwar al-Rehimi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

"Works on the third stage will be launched soon and would involve railway linking between al-Diwaniya and al-Samawa," he added.

Hilla, the capital city of Babel province, lies 100 km south of Baghdad

source:http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_...yid=1093309461

[Gag Halfrunt]

Andrew Grantham's Railways of Iraq site has more or less everything anyone knows about railways in Iraq.

[BigDreamer]

nice website. very useful

[MKTJ]

Baghdad Railway Complex and Loop Line Railway ProjectBy
Dr Samia J. Alkizwini

Synopsis:
This study has intended to evaluate Baghdad Railway Complex and Loop Line Railway Project. The project represents a dramatic change in total capacity of railway system in Iraq and a break thought in transportation facilities in addition to its implications in urban development. A feasibility study has been elaborated by using the Standard Methodology considering all technical, financial and economic aspects. A point of departure, the design works and system-operations studies of consultant firms have re-examined carefully and thoroughly to develop the data base for evaluation. Construction period was supposed to be ten years, and 40 years for useful life of production.

The details of inputs and operations were sufficient enough to estimate the capital, fixed and working, as well as the current cost. Revenue and outlays have been classified and scheduled annually to formulate cash flow and other financial statements. The presentation of this study follows a very normal sequence: At the outset, national and sectoral context provides the justification of the project. Then an over view of technical aspects including geometric designs and construction work was introduced to be integrated with consequent financial, economic and social evaluation. Next present value, Internal Rate of Return, Pay-Back Period and Benefit Cost Ratio were recalculated systematically with in the process of assessment.

The rate of return of capital represented by internal rate of return estimated as 6.5%, for the project in its present design. In order to increase the efficiency of investment, many alterations and changes in the project design have been tried. The Cost-Benefit tests suggest a new design, as the best, via: elimination of eastern section at the loop line and Baghdad East Station, reducing the number of lanes in the complex of South-West Baghdad. The adjustments mentioned above resulted in internal rate of return estimated 9.2%. The project with these changes is recommended as feasible and acceptable. The reliability of evaluation indicators was considered with the aid of a comprehensive sensitivity and analysis which has insisted that the project could tolerate unexpected risks and uncertainties within a wide band of contingencies. Finally it is necessary to say that government regulations and management styles could seriously affect the actual efficiency of investment.

Aim of the project
1- Connect all railway lines which directed to Baghdad from different directions to insure easy movement of largest number of trains.

2- Take off all railway lines with the same road level.

3- Construct a new service and maintenance complex in the country side and prevent heavy trucks to enter the city centre.

Also this project has different effect on the national economy, like:

1- Increase transportation capacity.

2- Increase train speeds.

3- Increase the railway network to cover all the country.

4- Development and improvement of loading by improvement Freight and Marshalling Yard.

The main contains of the project
Because the project is very big it decided to divide the project into 8 parts:

1- the west part of the Loop Line
2- Railways Complex is include:
- Marshalling Yard
- Freight Yard
- Maintenance and Repair Facilities
3- Passenger central station. This station designed to receipt 140 trains daily on total area 1,700,000 m2 for 68,000 passengers.
4- the east part of the Loop Line
5- eastern station
6- Bridge on Tigris River, north Baghdad. This bridge length is 484m and covers area about 7000m2.
7- Bridge on Tigris river, south Baghdad. This bridge length is 484.35m and covers area about 7700m2.
8- Bridge on Diyala River. This bridge length is 281.60m and covers area about 4500m2.
The height of the three bridges is 6.5m above water level.
The main specifications for the above Rail Bridges are:
- The Span from 29.30m to 38.30m
- The width of Single Lane is 7.96m
- The width of Dowel Lane is 12.50m
- Using pre-cast and pre-stress reinforced concrete beams
- Reinforced concrete Piers height is from 8m to 13m and the abutments about 11m to 16m.
- Piling foundation diameter is 1200mm.


Phases of construction
Phase I
- The west part of the loop line
- Railways complex
-Passenger central station

Phase II
- The east part of the loop line
-Eastern station
- and the 3 bridges

Design measurements
1- Two dowel line with 112km around Baghdad city , 6 connections in different levels ( the total length of these connections are 120km), and 5 branch lines some of them dowel and others single. The total length for the main and branch railway lines are 284.
2- The design speed for the main railway line is 200km/hour, for connections are 130km/hour, for branches are 100km/hour, and at the diversions are 30km/hour.
3- Type of steel railway is UIC60 kg.
4- The width of the railway lane is 1433mm.
5- Used pre-cast concrete with fixing Pandrol type.
6- For embankment, supposed to use compacted layers of Common Soil and Granular Material.
7- Reinforced concrete culverts in different shapes as in Fig. 5, for vehicles and pedestrians.
8- Smallest radius for horizontal bent is 2100m for the main lane and 1000m in the connection and diversion locations.
9- Vertical bent radiuses 1000m for the main lane and 4000m in the connection locations.
10- The slop was 0.5%.
11- Sub-ballast thickness is 30-35 cm.
12- Embankment width as following:
-12.7m for the dowel lane
-7.75m for the single lane
-21.40m for the dowel lane of the tunnel

[sheytanElKebir]

I can say that there is certainly some work that I saw being carried out on the railways in Iraq in 2009-2010 including the following that i saw personally:

-new train station in some villages near rumatha, samawa.
-double track work in musayib / iskandariya


however, one thing to note, is that I see a running locomotive at most once every few months in Iraq! and I'm on the road daily!!

Iraq's railways are, unfortunately, completely disused at the moment.

[BigDreamer]

is it due to lack of functioning trains or security issues do you reckon?

[Soballe]

Well with the amount of goods that are shipped I guess it isnt surprising that the system isn't working to capacity. As trade increases expect that to change.

[sheytanElKebir]

There are plenty of locomotives that have been purchased from Turkey and Ukraine, in addition to a hundred or so operational locomotives that have been overhauled in the samawa works. however the lack of freight (or passenger) use is due to the transport ministry's incompetence more than anything. At the moment all the freight coming in from Basra is going up using trucks.

[sheytanElKebir]

Originally Posted by BigDreamer

The Iraq Railway network is one of the most fundamental construction projects currently under construction in Iraq.

Iraq has one of the oldest railway networks in the middle east. It is linked to Syria and Turkey (and onto Europe).

Billions of dollars are to be invested in the coming years to rehabilitate and expand the network

Map of major railways:

just a small note. the above map is incorrect. there's no railway line from kirkuk to erbil.

[BigDreamer]

according to wikipedia, in 1949 a line between Kirkuk and Erbil was opened. I have no idea if it is operational now or not ( I doubt that it is). this map is from wikipedia btw

[sheytanElKebir]

no line to erbil. in fact no railways at all in kurdistan at the moment.

there is certainly a "plan" to have railways there... but like all iraqi "plans" a pinch of salt is in order.

to be honest, these people are building railways now in the south, musayib, karbala, samawa-najaf line etc... which ARE being built. but is there really a point? since they are not even making any use of the existing facilities and lines AT ALL. and there's almost 3k of track and hundreds of locos and thousands of rolling stock sitting idle.

[Metromurcia]

Do exist any project about electric rail suburban system on Bagdad or another big city?

[sheytanElKebir]

there's plenty of talk but no action.

projects (hypothetical) include:
baghdad
erbil
najaf

[bbs022]

Thank you!
__________________

[MKTJ]

Rail linkage project between Iraq and Syria

Sent the General Company for the implementation of transport projects, one of the formations and the Ministry of Transport schemes detailed designs for the project railway link between Iraq and Syria to the path of the line of kilometers (00-0) to km (650-1) to the General Company of Iraqi rail with a view to ratification.
It is worth noting that the General Company for the implementation of transport projects are several projects for the General Company for Iraqi rail and this project is one such important projects.

http://scitcp.gov.iq

[MKTJ]

Project Musayyib - Karbala

Continuation of the field trips and weekly visited His Excellency the Minister of Transport, Amer Abdul-Jabbar Ismail railway project Musayyib - Karbala on Thursday, 01/07/2010 and met technical cadres implementing the project and briefed on the details of the progress of work and urged the employees of the project to expedite the completion of paragraphs being one of the projects very important to serve the people of the provinces Middle Euphrates and visitors of the holy shrines in Karbala.

[yangkuimail]

We are one of the largest rail & turnout manufacture and supplier in China (China Railway Material Group). We are trying to extend our business in Iraq, but we still worry about the safty situation. Can someone tell me how is it going on there.

[yangkuimail]

It would be appreciated if someone who also works in the railway business contact me at my skype: alexisgz or mya email alexis@crmg.cn

[jonasry]

Are there any regular passenger trains running in Iraq at the moment and is there any schedule avalible online? As I understand it back in 2009 there was a night train Baghdad-Basra and day trains to Falluja and Samarra.

Any news on the service to Mosul?