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{{Short description|Abandoned railways in Iraq}}
The '''Iraqi Narrow-gauge railways''' operated in the ] during the ] and were laid using ] in today's ].
The '''Iraqi military railways''' operated in the British-occupied parts of the ], the ] and modern ]. The approximately {{Convert|1610|km|mi|abbr=on|round=}} were built during and after the ] and were laid using ] in today's ]. They comprised {{Convert|1290|km|mi|abbr=on}} of main-line railways and {{Convert|320|km|mi|abbr=on}} of secondary railways. Most ] were either upgraded to metre- or standard-gauge or if not they were ]. Some purposes of the lines were to supply troops, provide communication, relieve river traffic and speed up connections, but they also handled some civilian traffic, especially after 1919. By the 1960s, the last remnants of the railways were abandoned with the retrofitting of the ] from metre- to standard-gauge. About 20,000 Indian convicted labourers worked on the railways, with additional labour drawn from Turkish ].<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Iain |date=17 May 2016 |title=The architecture of the British Mandate in Iraq: nation-building and state creation |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13602365.2016.1179662#d1e94 |journal=] |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=375–417 |doi=10.1080/13602365.2016.1179662 |via=Taylor & Francis}}</ref>


== Objectives ==
⚫ ==Decauville railway Baghdad-Mufraz==
{{Main|Mesopotamian campaign}}
⚫ The ] Railway Baghdad–Mufraz ran from Baghdad in a southwesterly direction to Mufraz. On March 11, 1917, British forces occupied Baghdad. Shortly afterward, Turkish troops who had fled north destroyed the ] on the ], flooding an area south of Baghdad through which the first {{Convert|17.7|km|mi}} of the light railway ran. From March 30, 1917, to April 13, 1917, British soldiers dismantled the line that had been laid with portable tracks and laid it on a new route by April 25, 1917. During the day, the sun's rays made the rails so hot that the soldiers could only touch them if they protected their hands with empty sandbags. Since no ] were available, the tracks experienced a lot of ] in some sections due to the extreme heat and had to be re-laid in the second half of April 1917.
A reason for the continuous interest of Britain in Mesopotamia was the idea of it being a shortcut to India with multiple prior plans being made for railways linking the ] with the ] as early as 1857 following the ].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Abbas |first1=Ali Karim |last2=Saleh |first2=Rawa Haider |last3=Akkar |first3=Dr. Ali Nawal Wali |date=February 2024 |title=Britain's Activity in Iraq During the Nineteenth Century |url=https://kurdishstudies.net/menu-script/index.php/KS/article/download/2614/1675/4896 |journal=Kurdish Studies |pages=8 |issn=2051-4883 |eissn=2051-4891 |via=Kurdish Studies.net}}</ref>


These multiple railways were constructed to connect recently conquered Baghdad with Basra for the supply of northwards advancing troops. Also, they accelerated the travel times in Iraq. For example, the time to get from Kut to Baghdad was cut from 2 days to 8 hours. Even though river transport still constituted the main transport artery during the war, the importance of railways grew immensely in Iraq, with 2.7 million tons of cargo being transported on the network in 1917 and 1918.<ref name=":4" />
⚫ ==Decauville railway Baghdad-Ridhwaniya==
The ] 600mm-gauge railway line from ] to Baghdad connected the Euphrates with Baghdad. It ran south of the old caravan route from Aleppo via Falluja to Baghdad. It began near the mouth of the ] and led to Baghdad via ], ] and the Baghdad suburb of ]. In May 1916, the wagons were still pushed by hand.


The British, who already by the start of the war assumed they would retain Basra, if not the entire territory, with ] for a "'proposed city of the future'" as the ] portrayed ] ] ideas for Basra and the development of its railways.<ref name=":5" />
⚫ On the night of April 24th to 25th, 1917, a dam that had held back the Euphrates floods broke, whereupon the road to Falluja and the Decauville railway from Ridhwaniya to Baghdad were flooded and became impassable. In the area where the dam broke, the floodwater was {{Convert|4.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} m deep and flowed through the narrow passage at high speeds, making it difficult to repair the dam. To bring sandbags to the dam break, a temporary route made of Decauville ] and ] was quickly laid there, along which trains with up to 6 ] loaded with sandbags could be pushed by hand. After the work was completed, the floodwater dropped to below {{Convert|1|m|ft|abbr=on}}.


== The first railways ==
⚫ ==Light railway Baghdad-Diyala==
]The history of railways in Iraq started, aside from some horse-driven tramways, in 1914 with the ]. Yet with the ], railways first became an essential part of Iraqi transport and infrastructure.
In May 1917, construction began on a light railway line from Baghdad to the Diyala Front. Due to a lack of ] material, it was built with a track width of 762 mm from material that came from the dismantled Sheikh Saad-Sinn line and the abandoned Qurna-Amara line. The route was opened to traffic on July 13, 1917 to Baquba. It was later extended to ], 105 km from Baghdad. Between Baquba and Table Mountain, there was a 6.5 km long branch line opened in 1917, which connected ] and ] on the ], one of the main tributaries of the Tigris.


===Baghdad-Quretu railway=== === Light railway Qurna-Amara ===
The 762mm-gauge Railway Qurna-Amara ran {{Convert|112|km|mi|abbr=on}} from ] to ] in the south-east of Iraq along the ]. It was one of the two first railways in Iraq, built in 1916 and opened to traffic in November of the same year. Later, in April 1917 it was converted to metre-gauge. It ran along the right bank of the Tigris and its principal objective was to relieve the river traffic on the difficult section of the Tigris between Qurna and Amara. Nearly the whole railway passed through flood-prone areas and the track had to be built on a high embankment. Many bridges were also necessary, for example, the one at the ] with a length of {{Convert|60|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Military Light Railways |url=https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/l2/military_light_railways.html#google_vignette |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |via=Theodora.com}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |date=1922 |title=1922 Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 31 |url=https://en.m.wikisource.org/Page:EB1922_-_Volume_31.djvu/809 |journal=] |volume=31 |pages=809 |via=Wikisource}}</ref>
⚫ {{main|IRR Eastern Line}}

Later, a new meter gauge line was laid alongside the existing narrow-gauge line. The Baghdad–Baquba section was opened in November 1917, and the Baquba–Table Mountain section in June 1918. The line initially ran on a wooden bridge over the Diala River at Baquba. At the end of 1918, the pile bridge was replaced by a permanent structure consisting of four 30 m spans and two 23 m spans on caisson piers. Towards the end of 1918, an extension of this line to ] on the Persian border was completed. The line was later extended to ], 210 km from Baghdad.
=== Light railway Basra-Nasiriya ===
The metre-gauge Railway Basra-Nasiriya was the first metre-gauge railway to be opened in Mesopotamia and was the most vital connection for the ]. It connected the port city of ] with the city of ]. It followed the Euphrates with a length of {{Convert|225|km|mi|abbr=on}}. The rails were laid on mostly Indian broad-gauge sleepers so that the line could be converted to a standard-gauge track by shifting one rail. Large sections of the line passed below ] and many ] had to be constructed.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />
=== Light railway Sheikh Saad-Sinn ===
The 762mm-gauge Railway Sheikh Saad-Sinn(-Atab) was a local military supply line, which opened in October 1916. It ran {{Convert|38|km|mi|abbr=on}} between Sheikh Saad and Sinn and in total {{Convert|56|km|mi|abbr=on}}. It was built for communication between the British-Indian ] on the Kut Front and the Tigris Base further south. It later formed the middle section of the Amara-Kut line. By May 1917 the line was dismantled to provide tracks for the Baghdad-Diyala Railway.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=March 1998 |title=Iraq Railways - Passenger stations and stops |url=https://www.branchline.uk/jfpdf/iraqrlys.pdf |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=The Branch Line Society}}</ref>]
=== Decauville railways ===
{{Decauville railways in Baghdad}}
⚫ ==== Decauville railway Baghdad-Ridhwaniya ====
]The ] 600mm-gauge railway line from ] to Baghdad connected the Euphrates with Baghdad.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2009/20090723002ha/20090723002ha.pdf |title=Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol.II. 1917 |year=1917 |pages=370 |language=en}}</ref> It ran south of the old caravan route from ] via ] to Baghdad.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://memory.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2009/20090723003ha/20090723003ha.pdf |title=Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917 |year=1917 |pages=11 |language=en}}</ref> It began near the mouth of the ] and led to Baghdad via ], ] and the Baghdad suburb of ]. In May 1916, the wagons were still pushed by hand.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Army of Great Britain |first=Mediterranean Expeditionary Force |author-link=Army of Great Britain |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/162863432?q&versionId=177490086 |title=Iraq topographic map T.C. 103(C): Ridhwaniyah Post. Compiled by Survey Party M.E.F. |publisher=Mediterranean Expeditionary Force |year=1918–1919 |location=Egypt |language=en |via=Trove}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

⚫ On the night of April 24th to 25th, 1917, a dam that had held back the Euphrates floods broke, whereupon the road to Falluja and the Decauville railway from ] to Baghdad were flooded and became impassable. In the area where the dam broke, the floodwater was {{Convert|4.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} m deep and flowed through the narrow passage at high speeds, making it difficult to repair the dam. To bring sandbags to the dam break, a temporary route made of Decauville ] and ] was quickly laid there, along which trains with up to 6 ] loaded with ] could be pushed by hand. After the work was completed, the floodwater dropped to below {{Convert|1|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Murland |first=Lieutenant-Colonel H. F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BB2-BAAAQBAJ&dq=Decauville+baghdad&pg=PA222 |title=Baillie-Ki-Paltan: Being a History of the 2nd Battalion, Madras Pioneers 1759–1930. |date=2012-02-01 |publisher=Andrew UK Limited |isbn=978-1-78149-813-2 |pages=222,223,564 |language=en}}</ref>

⚫ ==== Decauville railway Baghdad-Mufraz ====
⚫ ]The ] Railway Baghdad–Mufraz ran from ] in a southwesterly direction to ]. On March 11, 1917, British forces occupied Baghdad. Shortly afterwards, Turkish troops who had fled north destroyed the ] on the ], flooding an area south of Baghdad through which the first {{Convert|17.7|km|mi}} of the light railway ran. From March 30, 1917, to April 13, 1917, British soldiers dismantled the line laid with portable tracks and laid it on a new route by April 25, 1917. During the day, the sun's rays made the rails so hot that the soldiers could only touch them if they protected their hands with empty sandbags. Since no ] were available, the tracks experienced a lot of ] in some sections due to the extreme heat and had to be re-laid in the second half of April 1917.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QMaJ0_cfKS0C&dq=Decauville+baghdad&pg=PA92 |title=The Baghdad Railway Club |date=2012-06-05 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-571-28202-9 |pages=92 |language=en}}</ref>

== Creating the connection from Basra to Baghdad ==
{{Metre-gauge railway Baghdad-Basra}}
=== Over the Tigris ===
Following these three initial routes, further lines were built to connect Baghdad and Basra, leading to two routes between the two cities, one along the right bank of the Euphrates and the other along the right bank of the Tigris. The Basra-Qurna({{Convert|64|km|mi|abbr=on}}) line was constructed between February 1917 and December 16, 1917. The main difficulty was crossing the {{Convert|21|m|ft|abbr=on}} deep ], which was too deep for an ordinary pile bridge and required a ] brought from India. This was no permanent solution because trains could only cross it 16 hours a day, due to the strong ] experienced near Basra. Another major infrastructural feat was the {{Convert|275|m|ft|abbr=on|round=5}} pile bridge over the Euphrates before Qurna Station.<ref name=":4" />

Amara-Sheikh Saad({{Convert|138|km|mi|abbr=on|round=}}), Sinn-Kut, Kut-Baghdad({{Convert|175|km|mi|abbr=on}}) then finished the Tigris route from Basra to Baghdad. Along the Kut-Baghdad section 13 ] were built. The main terminal for trains along the line was at ], even though the line was already extended to Baghdad East where it interchanged with the Baghdad-Diyala Railway.<ref name=":4" />

Later, a metre-gauge connection was built from Basra to Amara over Qurna. That line was operational from 1917 to the early 1920s.<ref name=":2" />

=== Over the Euphrates ===
{{Main|IRR Southern Line#History}}

The {{Convert|93|km|mi|abbr=on}} Hilla-Baghdad railway was opened for traffic in May 1918 on 75lbs rails on top of broad gauge sleepers. The original plan was to have Baghdad connected to ] with a standard-gauge line branching {{Convert|5|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} after Baghdad along the Baghdad-Dhibban line. It was changed due to strategic changes by the war command. A {{Convert|34|km|mi|abbr=on}} 762mm-gauge branch line was built from Hilla to ] to transport harvest from the ] agricultural district to Baghdad. The branch line operated from 1918 to the early 1920s.<ref name=":2" />

The Nasiriya-Hilla railway started construction in August 1918. This through-connection from Basra to Baghdad along the Euphrates wasn't as vital and quickly built as the one along the Tigris, as the distance was greater between the two terminals. The main reason to build it was to connect the cities along the Euphrates to Baghdad and Basra. Due to material shortages, the opening was postponed until after the end of the war and service opened in 1920.<ref name=":4" /> The Basra City Terminal, at the edge of Old Basra(Basra Al Qadima) was still active to at least the 1940s, but was eventually removed, moving the terminal to ].<ref name=":2" /> Maqil also had tourism-centered trains on a 610mm-gauge ] operated by Sunbeam Tours<ref>{{Cite web |last=Andrew |first=Grantham |date=2008-10-19 |title=Maqil light railway pictures |url=https://www.andrewgrantham.co.uk/iraq/maqil-light-railway-pictures/ |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=Railways of Iraq}}</ref>, who organised tours for British tourists to India and Mesopotamia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Sunbeam Tours London cased stereo slides, for India I, London Zoo, and Mesopotamia, in three slip cases. |url=https://auctions.goldingyoung.com/lot-details/index/catalog/833/lot/521798/The-Sunbeam-Tours-London-cased-stereo-slides-for-India-I-London-Zoo-and-Mesopotamia-in-three-slip-cases-3 |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=Golding Young}}</ref>

== Other military railways ==

=== Standard-gauge railway Baghdad-Dhibban ===
In August 1917 a rare wartime standard-gauge line started construction from Baghdad to Falluja and was only finished by December of the same year due to material shortages. Later, after the ] the line increased in priority. It was intended to extend the line to Ramadi, but it was only extended to ] {{Convert|78|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Baghdad. The construction work was finished by February 1918.<ref name=":4" /> The line was closed by the early 1920s.<ref name=":2" />

Dhibban is today better known as ].

=== Standard-gauge railway Tanuma-Akela ===
A {{Convert|22|km|mi|abbr=on}} long railway connected ], a town across the ] from Basra to Akela near ] in Iran.<ref name=":2" />

⚫ === Light railway Baghdad-Diyala ===
⚫ {{main|IRR Eastern Line#Light Railway Baghdad-Diyala}}
{{Baghdad-Diyala Railway}}
In May 1917, construction began on a light railway line from Baghdad to the Diyala Front. Due to a lack of ] material, it was built with a track width of 762 mm from material from the dismantled Sheikh Saad-Sinn line and the abandoned Qurna-Amara line. The route was opened to traffic on July 13, 1917 to Baquba. It was extended to ], {{Convert|105|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Baghdad.<ref name=":3" /> Later, a ] was laid alongside the existing narrow-gauge line, that was later extended to ] in ].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://redirecter.toolforge.org/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.memory.loc.gov%2Fservice%2Fgdc%2Fscd0001%2F2009%2F20090723001ha%2F20090723001ha.pdf |title=Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol.1. |date=November 1918 |pages=15 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216174145/http://www.memory.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2009/20090723001ha/20090723001ha.pdf |archive-date=2017-02-16}}</ref>

=== Metre-gauge railway Baquba-Kut ===
For a brief while, there was a {{Convert|200|km|mi|abbr=on}} connection from ] near Baquba to Kut, bypassing Baghdad. It was still operational as late as the 1940s.<ref name=":2" />


==See also== ==See also==
]
]


==References==
{{reflist}}
] ]
] ]

Latest revision as of 09:55, 8 January 2025

Abandoned railways in Iraq

The Iraqi military railways operated in the British-occupied parts of the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate for Mesopotamia and modern Iraq. The approximately 1,610 km (1,000 mi) were built during and after the First World War and were laid using portable track in today's Iraq. They comprised 1,290 km (800 mi) of main-line railways and 320 km (200 mi) of secondary railways. Most wartime lines were either upgraded to metre- or standard-gauge or if not they were abandoned. Some purposes of the lines were to supply troops, provide communication, relieve river traffic and speed up connections, but they also handled some civilian traffic, especially after 1919. By the 1960s, the last remnants of the railways were abandoned with the retrofitting of the IRR Southern Line from metre- to standard-gauge. About 20,000 Indian convicted labourers worked on the railways, with additional labour drawn from Turkish POWs.

Objectives

Main article: Mesopotamian campaign

A reason for the continuous interest of Britain in Mesopotamia was the idea of it being a shortcut to India with multiple prior plans being made for railways linking the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf as early as 1857 following the Sepoy Mutiny.

These multiple railways were constructed to connect recently conquered Baghdad with Basra for the supply of northwards advancing troops. Also, they accelerated the travel times in Iraq. For example, the time to get from Kut to Baghdad was cut from 2 days to 8 hours. Even though river transport still constituted the main transport artery during the war, the importance of railways grew immensely in Iraq, with 2.7 million tons of cargo being transported on the network in 1917 and 1918.

The British, who already by the start of the war assumed they would retain Basra, if not the entire territory, with plans for a "'proposed city of the future'" as the Architects' Journal portrayed Captain Samuel Douglas Meadows's ideas for Basra and the development of its railways.

The first railways

A map of the eastern end of the Sheikh Saad-Sinn line with the Twin Canals, Sinn, Imam-Al-Mansur and Atal Stations on the map.

The history of railways in Iraq started, aside from some horse-driven tramways, in 1914 with the Berlin-Baghdad Railway. Yet with the British landing at Fao, railways first became an essential part of Iraqi transport and infrastructure.

Light railway Qurna-Amara

The 762mm-gauge Railway Qurna-Amara ran 112 km (70 mi) from Qurna to Amara in the south-east of Iraq along the Tigris. It was one of the two first railways in Iraq, built in 1916 and opened to traffic in November of the same year. Later, in April 1917 it was converted to metre-gauge. It ran along the right bank of the Tigris and its principal objective was to relieve the river traffic on the difficult section of the Tigris between Qurna and Amara. Nearly the whole railway passed through flood-prone areas and the track had to be built on a high embankment. Many bridges were also necessary, for example, the one at the Majar Kebir Spillway with a length of 60 m (200 ft).

Light railway Basra-Nasiriya

The metre-gauge Railway Basra-Nasiriya was the first metre-gauge railway to be opened in Mesopotamia and was the most vital connection for the British war effort in Mesopotamia. It connected the port city of Basra with the city of Nasiriya. It followed the Euphrates with a length of 225 km (140 mi). The rails were laid on mostly Indian broad-gauge sleepers so that the line could be converted to a standard-gauge track by shifting one rail. Large sections of the line passed below sea level and many banks had to be constructed.

Light railway Sheikh Saad-Sinn

The 762mm-gauge Railway Sheikh Saad-Sinn(-Atab) was a local military supply line, which opened in October 1916. It ran 38 km (24 mi) between Sheikh Saad and Sinn and in total 56 km (35 mi). It was built for communication between the British-Indian Tigris Corps on the Kut Front and the Tigris Base further south. It later formed the middle section of the Amara-Kut line. By May 1917 the line was dismantled to provide tracks for the Baghdad-Diyala Railway.

Baghdad-Mufraz and Baghdad-Samarra Railways.

Decauville railways

Decauville railways in Baghdad
Legend
Baghdad to Mufraz/Ridhwaniya
km approx. time
0 Baghdad West 0:00
Mufraz
Kharr
Tel Aswad
Abu Thubba
Ridhwaniya

Decauville railway Baghdad-Ridhwaniya

Decauville Railways running south-west of Baghdad

The hand-operated 600mm-gauge railway line from Ridhwaniya to Baghdad connected the Euphrates with Baghdad. It ran south of the old caravan route from Aleppo via Falluja to Baghdad. It began near the mouth of the Ridhwaniya Canal and led to Baghdad via Abu Thubba, Tel Aswad and the Baghdad suburb of Kharr. In May 1916, the wagons were still pushed by hand.

On the night of April 24th to 25th, 1917, a dam that had held back the Euphrates floods broke, whereupon the road to Falluja and the Decauville railway from Ridhwaniya to Baghdad were flooded and became impassable. In the area where the dam broke, the floodwater was 4.5 m (15 ft) m deep and flowed through the narrow passage at high speeds, making it difficult to repair the dam. To bring sandbags to the dam break, a temporary route made of Decauville yokes and climbing switches was quickly laid there, along which trains with up to 6 tipping wagons loaded with sandbags could be pushed by hand. After the work was completed, the floodwater dropped to below 1 m (3.3 ft).

Decauville railway Baghdad-Mufraz

The old and new route of the Decauville Railway Baghdad–Mufraz, March 1917

The Decauville Railway Baghdad–Mufraz ran from Baghdad in a southwesterly direction to Mufraz. On March 11, 1917, British forces occupied Baghdad. Shortly afterwards, Turkish troops who had fled north destroyed the Sakhlawiya Dam on the Euphrates, flooding an area south of Baghdad through which the first 17.7 kilometres (11.0 mi) of the light railway ran. From March 30, 1917, to April 13, 1917, British soldiers dismantled the line laid with portable tracks and laid it on a new route by April 25, 1917. During the day, the sun's rays made the rails so hot that the soldiers could only touch them if they protected their hands with empty sandbags. Since no expansion joints were available, the tracks experienced a lot of buckling in some sections due to the extreme heat and had to be re-laid in the second half of April 1917.

Creating the connection from Basra to Baghdad

Metre-gauge railway Baghdad-Basra
Legend
Baghdad to Basra
km approx. time
0 Baghdad West 00:00
Baghdad Tigris Siding
10 Dora
20 Hor Rajab/Awarij
25 Ghezalat/Eleg Zelat
29 Yusufiya
32 Mahmudiya Town
33 Mahmudiya
43 Latifiya
55 Iskanderiya/Alexandria
69 Mussayib
75 Hindiya
Hindiya Junction
77 Hindiya Barrage
79 Muafat
83 Ibrahimiya
95 Imam Aun
113 Karbala
82 Hussun Al Baigat
89 Khan Al Mahawil
102 Babylon
107 Hilla
Hilla Euphrates Siding
762mm Branch to Kifl
122 Hadid/Barmana
132 Hashimiya
147 Qochan
153 Sharifiya
164 Auni Ibn Ali
174 Maliha/Khan Jadwal
183 Mile 114.08
192 Diwaniya
200 Abud Shanayin
210 Nabi Madiyam
221 Hamza
229 Aksha
237 Abu Tabikh
247 Aridhiyat
253 Rumaitha
260 Dubais
266 Hajama
271 Wawiya
280 Samawa
295 Khafura
310 Khidhr
324 Darraji
332 Mile 206.17
340 Batha
356 Sukhairi
360 Durra
371 Ur
Ur Junction
387 Nasiriya
388 Abu Salabikh
405 Tel Al Lahm
415 Tel Al Jabara
425 Qabr
433 Jaliba
443 Hamidiya
451 Kuraiz
462 Laqit
470 Kelah Loh
476 Yadila
488 Ghubaishiya
503 Artawa/Ratawi
508 Rumaila
514 Qurainat
520 Nukhaila
537 Tuba
Shueyba Junction
560 Shueyba Fort
565 Zubair
576 Rafidiya
594 Jebel Senam
553 Shueyba
569 Basra Maqil
579 Basra City

Over the Tigris

Following these three initial routes, further lines were built to connect Baghdad and Basra, leading to two routes between the two cities, one along the right bank of the Euphrates and the other along the right bank of the Tigris. The Basra-Qurna(64 km (40 mi)) line was constructed between February 1917 and December 16, 1917. The main difficulty was crossing the 21 m (69 ft) deep Garmat Ali Canal, which was too deep for an ordinary pile bridge and required a pontoon bridge brought from India. This was no permanent solution because trains could only cross it 16 hours a day, due to the strong tides experienced near Basra. Another major infrastructural feat was the 275 m (900 ft) pile bridge over the Euphrates before Qurna Station.

Amara-Sheikh Saad(138 km (86 mi)), Sinn-Kut, Kut-Baghdad(175 km (109 mi)) then finished the Tigris route from Basra to Baghdad. Along the Kut-Baghdad section 13 railway stations were built. The main terminal for trains along the line was at Hinaidi, even though the line was already extended to Baghdad East where it interchanged with the Baghdad-Diyala Railway.

Later, a metre-gauge connection was built from Basra to Amara over Qurna. That line was operational from 1917 to the early 1920s.

Over the Euphrates

Main article: IRR Southern Line § History

The 93 km (58 mi) Hilla-Baghdad railway was opened for traffic in May 1918 on 75lbs rails on top of broad gauge sleepers. The original plan was to have Baghdad connected to Mussayib with a standard-gauge line branching 5 km (3 mi) after Baghdad along the Baghdad-Dhibban line. It was changed due to strategic changes by the war command. A 34 km (21 mi) 762mm-gauge branch line was built from Hilla to Kifl to transport harvest from the Hindiya agricultural district to Baghdad. The branch line operated from 1918 to the early 1920s.

The Nasiriya-Hilla railway started construction in August 1918. This through-connection from Basra to Baghdad along the Euphrates wasn't as vital and quickly built as the one along the Tigris, as the distance was greater between the two terminals. The main reason to build it was to connect the cities along the Euphrates to Baghdad and Basra. Due to material shortages, the opening was postponed until after the end of the war and service opened in 1920. The Basra City Terminal, at the edge of Old Basra(Basra Al Qadima) was still active to at least the 1940s, but was eventually removed, moving the terminal to Maqil. Maqil also had tourism-centered trains on a 610mm-gauge tourist railway operated by Sunbeam Tours, who organised tours for British tourists to India and Mesopotamia.

Other military railways

Standard-gauge railway Baghdad-Dhibban

In August 1917 a rare wartime standard-gauge line started construction from Baghdad to Falluja and was only finished by December of the same year due to material shortages. Later, after the occupation of Ramadi, the line increased in priority. It was intended to extend the line to Ramadi, but it was only extended to Dhibban 78 km (48 mi) from Baghdad. The construction work was finished by February 1918. The line was closed by the early 1920s.

Dhibban is today better known as Habbaniya.

Standard-gauge railway Tanuma-Akela

A 22 km (14 mi) long railway connected Tanuma, a town across the Shatt Al Arab from Basra to Akela near Khorramshahr in Iran.

Light railway Baghdad-Diyala

Main article: IRR Eastern Line § Light Railway Baghdad-Diyala
Baghdad-Diyala Railway
Legend
Baghdad to Table Mountain
km approx. time
0 Baghdad North 00:00
3 Baghdad East
6 Tabouk Factory
11 Hinaidi/Mile 7
13 Shammaiya
19 Sidaira
22 Safwa
26 Sha'ura
32 Mile 20
41 Khan Bani Sa'ad
49 Shifta
59 Baquba
65 Jassimiya
73 Abu Hawa
80 Um Aisha
86 Abu Jisra
92.5 Abu Saida
90 Abu Hasawiya
96 Meqdad
101 Muqdadiya/Shahraban
105 Table Mountain

In May 1917, construction began on a light railway line from Baghdad to the Diyala Front. Due to a lack of metre-gauge material, it was built with a track width of 762 mm from material from the dismantled Sheikh Saad-Sinn line and the abandoned Qurna-Amara line. The route was opened to traffic on July 13, 1917 to Baquba. It was extended to Table Mountain, 105 km (65 mi) from Baghdad. Later, a new metre-gauge line was laid alongside the existing narrow-gauge line, that was later extended to Quretu in Iran.

Metre-gauge railway Baquba-Kut

For a brief while, there was a 200 km (120 mi) connection from Jasimiya near Baquba to Kut, bypassing Baghdad. It was still operational as late as the 1940s.

See also

British military narrow-gauge railways

References

  1. ^ Jackson, Iain (17 May 2016). "The architecture of the British Mandate in Iraq: nation-building and state creation". The Journal of Architecture. 21 (3): 375–417. doi:10.1080/13602365.2016.1179662 – via Taylor & Francis.
  2. Abbas, Ali Karim; Saleh, Rawa Haider; Akkar, Dr. Ali Nawal Wali (February 2024). "Britain's Activity in Iraq During the Nineteenth Century". Kurdish Studies: 8. eISSN 2051-4891. ISSN 2051-4883 – via Kurdish Studies.net.
  3. ^ "1922 Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 31". Encyclopædia Britannica. 31: 809. 1922 – via Wikisource.
  4. ^ "Military Light Railways". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2025-01-03 – via Theodora.com.
  5. ^ "Iraq Railways - Passenger stations and stops" (PDF). The Branch Line Society. March 1998. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  6. ^ Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol.II. 1917 (PDF). 1917. p. 370.
  7. Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917 (PDF). 1917. p. 11.
  8. Army of Great Britain, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (1918–1919). Iraq topographic map T.C. 103(C): Ridhwaniyah Post. Compiled by Survey Party M.E.F. Egypt: Mediterranean Expeditionary Force – via Trove.
  9. ^ Murland, Lieutenant-Colonel H. F. (2012-02-01). Baillie-Ki-Paltan: Being a History of the 2nd Battalion, Madras Pioneers 1759–1930. Andrew UK Limited. pp. 222, 223, 564. ISBN 978-1-78149-813-2.
  10. Martin, Andrew (2012-06-05). The Baghdad Railway Club. Faber & Faber. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-571-28202-9.
  11. Andrew, Grantham (2008-10-19). "Maqil light railway pictures". Railways of Iraq. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  12. "The Sunbeam Tours London cased stereo slides, for India I, London Zoo, and Mesopotamia, in three slip cases". Golding Young. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  13. Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol.1 (PDF). November 1918. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-16.
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