"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [ظ‎‎٣‎٨‎٠] (٨٦٢/٧٦٣)

592 COMMUNICATIONS
train, 210 tons; mixed train 550 tons; goods train 600 tons. Maximum
gross load, 750 tons.
Water-supplies
There are water storage or settling tanks at the following points:
Ur Junction, 2 tanks of 5,000 gallons each.
Barbuti, 2 tanks of 109,000 gallons each, for pumpmg to Samawa
station.
Rumaitha, 2 tanks of 80,000 gallons each.
Diwaniya, 2 tanks of 26,000 gallons each.
Hindiya, 3 tanks of total capacity 40,840 gallons.
Baghdad West, 3 tanks of total capacity 200,000 gallons.
Bridges
Only the more important bridges are noted in the detailed description.
Almost all of these have concrete abutments and piers. There are also a
great number of small bridges and culverts, particularly in the middle
section of the line from Samawa to Hindiya Junction.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The route taken by this main-line metre-gauge railway and its
principal branch may be divided conveniently into four sections,
(i) Basra to Samawa, (ii) Samawa to Hindiya junction, (iii) Hindiya
junction to Karbala, and (iv) Hindiya junction to Baghdad West.
(i) Basra to Samawa. After leaving the Maqil terminus the line
crosses the low ground inland of Basra by a high embankment south-
westwards to Shuaiba junction, a distance of nearly 10 miles. Recent
activity at Basra has led to considerable development at the Maqil
terminus, and the branch-line from Shuaiba junction to the R.A.F.
station at Shuaiba has been extended to Zubair and thence to Rafid-
hiya, where it branches to Jabal Sanam and to Umm Qasr. The line
to Jabal Sanam is used mainly for bringing stone from the quarries
for constructional purposes. Umm Qasr is a new temporary port near
the junction of the Khor Abdulla and Khor Zubair, with a railway
embankment to deep-water berths (of which 6 were projected in i 94 2 )>
transhipment yard, end-loading ramp, marshalling yard, and turning-
triangle. In 1943 the total track mileage laid from Zubair to Umm
Qasr was about 34.
From Shuaiba junction to Samawa the main line keeps above the
inundation level parallel to and generally 2 or 3 miles from the
southern shore of the Hammar lake, until at Ghubaishiya (mile 50-2)
it diverges west-south-west to Jaliba (m. 84’6) to avoid low, broken,
swampy ground. Here it turns north-west and runs midway between