Baghdad
Trams
Tram Views of Asia has two postcards showing double-deck horse drawn tramcars on a two and half mile tramway linking Baghdad with a mosque at Kamazene (or Kadhimain) near Shalchiyah. The line opened in 1871 and lasted until at least World War II.
Metro
There have been occasional reports of discussions and contracts relating to a planned metro in Baghdad. Part of it might have been built, and used for non-public transport purposes. Railway Gazette (p516 July 1982) said work was to start August 1983, for test running 1986.
| Construction phase | Line | Route | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Line 1 | Thawra (depot) (north) – Aadhamiya (west) | 32km 36 stations. 60% bored tunnel, rest cut and cover |
| Line 2 | Mansour (depot) (south) – Masbah (east) | ||
| Phase 2 | extensions | 11 km, 10 stations | |
| Phase 3 | Line 3 | In north of city |
Map showing the routes of the metro lines proposed for Baghdad.
- Map showing the Thawra end of Line 1 under construction
- Subways.net’s Baghdad page with some links
- 2003-02-21 Saddam’s Deadly Subway Scheming
- 2003-01-27 Baghdad to Build Metro
- 2001-05-29 Egypt enters race to help build Baghdad subway (some strange Javascript stops me linking to the actual article, and I can’t be bothered to find a work-around!).
Newspapers reported in mid-March that companies from Russia, Turkey and Ukraine were lining up for the subway contract, a project that was put on hold when the Iraq-Iran war broke out in 1980.
A portion of the Baghdad metro
system was designed to run under the medical city. An u/i American company and an u/i Brazilian company were initially involved in part of the design work. The metro was designed to be nuclear/biological/chemical (nbc) secure with walls 2.5 meters thick and the roof 3.5 meters thick. An air lock system was also planned.
Nejef
There is a photograph of a double-deck horse tram in Nejef taken in Mesopotamia during World War One on Edward A Walmsley’s website.
