"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [و‎‎٣‎٧‎٥] (٨٦٢/٧٥٢)

RAILWAYS
583
Standard-gauge Section. On the outbreak of war between Great
Britain and Germany in 1939 the standard-gauge line had not been
completed to Mosul. Soon after the Armistice in 1918 it had been
extended to Qala Sharqat, but the Baiji-Qala Sharqat section,
54 miles long, was later considered of unsuitable quality and was dis
mantled in 1927-1928. The delay in the settlement of the northern
frontier of Iraq also had a bearing on railway policy. Overland
passengers from Europe and Turkey during this period left railhead
at Nusaybin on the South Turkish railway and motored through
Mosul to Kirkuk, where they took the metre-gauge line to Baghdad.
In 1936, however, under the stimulus of national ownership, the
extension of the line to Mosul was again begun, taking a more
westerly line than before, and the building of the line from Mosul to
Tel Kotchek on the Syrian frontier was commenced about the same
time. The first passenger train entered Mosul from Turkey in March
1939, and the section between Tel Kotchek and Mosul was opened to
general traffic three months later; but the Baiji-Mosul line was not
finished until May 1940, and the first passenger train left Baghdad for
the Bosporus in July.
This line through Tel Kotchek cuts across the north-east corner of
Syria, and then forms the boundary between Syria and Turkey almost
to Aleppo. In 1935 Turkey completed a new line from Fevzipasa near
the Amanus to Diyarbekir and in 1937 linked this at Malatya with the
Ankara-Sivas line across the central Turkish plateau. An extension
eastwards from Diyarbekir to Cizre (Jezireh ibn Omar), on the Tigris
north of Pesh Khabur, was begun soon afterwards and was due for
completion to Kurtalan by the end of 1942. 1 Proposals to link up the
standard-gauge system of Iraq from Mosul with this new Turkish
railway do not appear to have met with approval by the Iraqi Govern
ment, which up till 1940 could see no commercial benefit in two rail
ways to the west.
The total length of standard-gauge railway in 1940 was about 340
miles; but much of the track was lightly ballasted and severe restric
tions on speed were imposed for this reason.
Railway Construction and Projects since 1940
Three events of prime importance have occurred since the begin
ning of 1940 which have notably affected Iraqi railways. The first
1 The railway between Tel Kotchek and Aleppo is described in Turkey, vol. ii
(B.R. 507 a), pp. 342-5; the Fevzipasa-Diyarbekir line in the same volume,
pp. 345-54; and the extension towards Cizre on pp. 358-60,