Iraq, Turkey to operate the railway line

An official source at the Iraqi ministry of transport and communications on Monday said that Iraq and Turkey agreed to operate a railway line between them through the Syrian lands by the beginning of next week.

The Iraqi weekly Nabd al-Shabab" ( youths impulse) quoted the source as saying that the general company for the Iraqi railways had agreed with specialized sides in Turkey to start trips to transport passengers through a railway line between Iraq and Turkey through the Syrian territories.

The source added that the new train will start from al- Mousel 400 KM to the north of Baghdad to Rabei 'a which is considered the last Iraqi border station between Iraq and Syria and then will stop in al-Qamishli station in the Syrian territories and then in the Turkish station in Nseibin.

On the other hand, the paper quoted well-informed source at the Iraqi ministry of transport and communications that specialists at the general company of the railway in Iraq and the railways in Jordan are studying means of setting up a railway line linking Iraq to Jordan that would contribute to reducing prices of commodity transport as well as passengers from al-Aqba port.

The source continued that a joint meeting will be held in the coming phase between Iraqi and Jordanian specialists to discuss the requirements of setting up the railway line and its costs and the time needed to complete it. This railway line extends from Haditha city in Iraq, 260 Km to the west of Baghdad to the Iraqi- Jordanian borders and then to the Jordanian al-Aqaba port.