NJTRailfan wrote:Thank you all for your information and especially to George Mahews who answered all of my posts in the International Forum. I do hope that while I'm here I can see the trains runnign alogn with the inside of the train station. I know the train station wasn't bombed during the war along with the Basra Station. I don't know how the others faired if there are train tracks and stations in Iraqi Cities like Tikrit, Fallujah, Kirkuk,etc I was hopign to get a map to see where these railroads ran to and if they re connected to other railroads in Syria and Iran. I heard Iran while not extensive as (let's say) India theres a system there thats better maintained then the Iraqi Railroad. Anyone has any pictures or links to the Trains Magazine Article?
Thank you all and to the person that changed my status to Veteran from Contributer.
The Thomas Cook Overseas Rail timetable book has a map of the Middle East rail lines including those in Iraq and Iran.
For Iraq it shows a network from Baghdad to Mawsil via Tikrit and on to the Syrian border. There was once a through train to Istanbul (Haydarpasa). There was another line to Halab in Syria via Habbaniya, Haqlaniya and Abu Kamal on the border with Syria. There was a branch to Kirkuk from Bajji.
There have been plans to continue from Basra to Kuwait, but I can't imagine any circumstances in which a line would be built.
During the second world war there was a link from the then narrow gauge Basra line to Abadan in Iran. It was used to supply the Soviet Union. During my time in Basra I was taken to see a bridge which had once carried this line across the river. In Basra I saw a number of obviously British colonial houses built for the Railway management, near the station.
In Iran there is a main line from Turkey through Tabriz (and a branch from Tabriz to Armenia in the former Soviet Union). The mainline goes on to Tehran. There are other lines to Abadan and Bandar Khomeini on the Gulf. A mainline leads from Tehran to Zahedan near the Pakistan border, but there is no connection with Pakistan yet. It was planned in the 1950s when Iran, Iraq and Pakistan were part of the anti-Soviet Baghdad Pact. The link may yet be built.
The other main line is from Tehran to Mashhad near the Afghan border. There may one day be an extension into Afghanistan to Herat. There is already an extension to Turkmenistan. The southeastern line has a branch to Bandar e Abbas on the Gulf.
I have travelled on part of the railway in Saudi (from Dammam to Hofuf) when I was working for Aramco.
There are always plans for an extensive network in Saudi, but they never get built.