Locomotives at Baghdad station

Some photos taken by Dave James at Baghdad Central station on 25/26 September 2011. Interesting to see a Lugansk DEM2800 locomotive, as most recent photos seem to show the DEM2700 class (CNR Dalian type DF10FI).


Iraqi Republic Railways locomotive number DEM2809, a Lugansk-built type TE114I.


DEM2809, with what looks like a Thyssen-Henschel/EMD DEM2500 in the background, behind the vans on the right.


The plinthed steam locomotive.

Sand removal machines arrive

Kershaw Sand Removal Machines delivered to Iraqi Republic Railways

Date: March 29, 2010

Al-Burhan Group has delivered two sand removal machines to Iraqi Republic Railways (IRR), as part of a contract signed in November 2008. The machines reached Umm Qasr Port on Saturday, the 27th of March 2010. The 46-6 Kershaw Sand Removal Machines had been shipped from the United States, from Kershaw / Progress Rail – Railway Division of Caterpillar. They will provide a fast and efficient means of managing drifting sand on IRR tracks and are needed in Western where sand covers the railway tracks extensively.

More…

Thomas Cook on Iraqi rail services

World’s worst services: The night train to Basra

Whenever you feel depressed about the state of the railways in Britain, just turn to the latest ‘Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable’. The new edition is a bargain at £13.99, the Bible for terrestrial travellers beyond the bounds of Europe. But the tireless compilers have their work cut out to promote travel by train when so many nations appear to be doing their best to dismantle the railways.
[…]
But there is one glimmer of hope in an unlikely location: “We have had a report that there is now a night train between Baghdad and Basra. It apparently leaves three times a week (which days are unknown) at 1600 and takes 18 hours with no stops en route.”
Source: The Independent 2009-07-08

Iraqi passenger services in The Times

The Times had a couple of articles about passenger services in Iraq last week.

One is Iraq’s struggle to get railway back on track after neglect and war (14 April 2009). It seems the Baghdad – Dora commuter service is somewhat unsuccessful, but “Against the odds, the minister has reopened a nightly passenger route between Baghdad and Basra. A train also runs every Friday to Samarra, a holy city to the north of the capital, carrying pilgrims to its golden-domed shrine. Last month a weekly service resumed between Baghdad and Fallujah.”

In Taken for a ride in Baghdad… (13 April 2009) the newspaper’s Baghdad Correspondent, Deborah Haynes, decribes how the Ministry of Transport organised a press trip on the commuter train … but something wasn’t quite right about it.