SYRIA, LEBANON:
The first railway to be built in Syria, in 1895, was to 1050 mm gauge – a gauge we came across in another Arab country, Algeria. It was, as surmised before, an unusual gauge. No official explanation for the origin of this gauge exists, but many believe it was one of those ‘no-one can invade us’ situations. Certainly it was sufficiently different from any other common gauges (such as 1000 mm or 1435 mm) to prevent any through running by an enemy’s trains.
The most important railway in Syria was built to this gauge, the famous Hejaz Railway, which ran between Damascus in Syria and Medina to the south in what is now Saudi Arabia, eventually reaching Mecca. A branch ran to Haifa. No other railways were built to this gauge in Syria, other than some temporary lines.
The next major line to be built was the Baghdad Railway, which, as noted in Turkey above, ran through Syria on its intended route from Baghdad to Berlin. This was built to 1435 mm Standard gauge. It reached Aleppo, almost at the border with Turkey, before World War I. At that point, a number of factors, but in particular the protests of the British, put a stop to any further construction.
After World War I, there was little new railway building, with the Hejaz railway providing the main transport link in Syria, but during World War II, new lines were surveyed to help with the war effort. A Standard gauge line was eventually built from Haifa to Beirut in 1942.
World War II saw a bewildering and complex building of both Standard gauge and temporary 1050 mm gauge railways in support of wartime activities, by both enemy and allies, with one of the key objectives being the ability to service Syria from Turkey without having to tranship goods because of the break of gauge. In the event, Turkey’s neutrality frustrated this idea. I will stop there in regards to World War II, as to attempt to untangle these wartime developments in Syria’s railways would add at least another whole chapter to this book!
Today, Syria has almost 3000 km of Standard gauge lines, none electrified, while just over 300 km of the 1050 mm gauge lines still survive. There are Standard gauge connections with Turkey at two points, while there is one 1050 mm gauge connection with Jordan (part of the original Hejaz Railway – while still 1050 mm gauge, this is reportedly being converted to Standard gauge). The Standard gauge connection with Iraq, twice severed, is also reportedly being reinstated. Narrow gauge connections with Israel and Lebanon are suspended.
Currently Lebanon is without a railway system, after the Lebanese Civil War shut down the system in 1997, with, for example, the main railway stations in Beirut and Tripoli now standing derelict (and off limits to tourists). What a sad end to what was once the terminus of the famous Orient Express! The days of travelling by train from Paris to Tripoli have long gone.
There was a 1050 mm gauge line in Lebanon from Damascus to Beirut, while a Standard gauge line ran from Aleppo to Riyaq. It is a shame that the Standard gauge services ceased – the coastal line (most of which is now in Israel) used to enable (theoretically at least) continuous Standard gauge rail travel from Europe to Africa.
There are no metro or tram systems in Syria or Lebanon.
ISRAEL, JORDAN:
Israel’s railways’ origins date from 1894. In that year the Jaffa to Jerusalem Railway opened, having been built with French help and financing, notwithstanding the desire of the British some years earlier, as far back as 1839 in fact, to establish railways in this territory.
Soon after this line opened, the 1050 mm gauge Hejaz Railway opened (see Syria above). In the Ottoman Empire period, Israel’s railway network expanded considerably, especially during World War I, and by the end of that war there were around five lines in operation, all Standard gauge other than the Hejaz Railway.
In the 1920s, with British interests now in the ascendant, new lines were built, and many new towns added to the network. By the middle of World War II, the British army had opened a line between Haifa, Beirut and Tripoli – and all to Standard gauge. Connections were established that enabled train travel as far as Lebanon and Egypt.
Subsequent to World War II, the ongoing unrest in this region, not to mention the changing borders and the emergence of what were completely new countries, meant that Israel’s railway system slowly decayed. It is only relatively recently (1990s) that plans were made to revive it.
Unlike Lebanon, Israel’s railway system is currently undergoing vigorous expansion. New Standard gauge lines are being built. In particular, the Coastal Railway (mentioned above in Syria and Lebanon, and the busiest line in Israel) has been expanded, and now connects with the Jaffa to Jerusalem Railway. Originally ending in Tel Aviv, the Coastal Railway now runs as far as Ashdod, south of Tel Aviv, this section being completed in 2013, thus providing a continuous 1435 mm gauge railway line along Israel’s Mediterranean coast between Nahariya, just south of the border with Lebanon, and the border with the Gaza Strip. This is a busy railway, using double decker trains. Some sections (in and around Tel Aviv) have been four-tracked, and the entire Coastal Railway will ultimately be electrified.
Further lines have also been completed relatively recently, including that from Yad Mordechai to Beersheva, which connects to an existing line running from Ashdod to Yad Mordechai.
Jordan presents a very different picture. The only passenger line currently operating in Jordan is a section of the 1050 mm gauge Hejaz Railway, between Amman and Damascus. The Aqaba Railway, a freight-only line, is also to 1050 mm gauge.
Metro and trams:
A tram system, very recently opened, currently operates in Jerusalem. A similar system is currently under construction in Tel Aviv. Both are built to the latest tram standards, including to Standard gauge.
IRAQ:
Iraq may share a border with Syria and Saudi Arabia (as well as Iran), but there are no 1050 mm gauge railways in Iraq. There are however some metre-gauge lines, as well as 1435 mm Standard gauge.
The first railway in Iraq, and the main railway before World War I, was in fact the southern leg of the Baghdad Railway, terminating at – er – Baghdad. This line, as we found above, was Standard gauge from the outset.
During WWI, in 1916, the British built some 762 mm gauge railways, as part of the war effort, then built some metre-gauge railways, also during this war. Quite why metre-gauge – and not, say, 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge, or 1050 mm gauge, as found in neighbouring countries – is unclear. But it did mean that there was a ready supply of 1000 mm gauge locomotives that were requisitioned from India.
Metre-gauge lines extended to what was then Sothern Mesopotamia, as well as running from Basra to Nasiriyah. Eventually, metre-gauge lines reached the Persian border from Baghdad. In 1940-41, as well as metre-gauge locomotives from India, large numbers of Standard gauge locomotives were imported from Britain (Stanier 2-8-0s) and from the USA (0-6-0Ts).
Meanwhile the 1435 mm gauge lines were extended to Basra, at the border with Iran, which was completed in 1940. All further railway building, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, was to Standard gauge.
Today there are about 1900 km of Standard gauge lines in Iraq, as well as around 200 km of 1000 mm gauge lines. A 250 km/h Standard gauge high speed line 650 km long is planned between Baghdad and Basra – but, considering the current war in Iraq, it may be some years before that becomes reality.
There are 1435 mm gauge links with Iran (both complete and under construction), Syria, and Turkey (via Syria). A link with Jordan involves a 1435/1050 mm break-of-gauge. There are no links with Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.
The only metro is a Standard gauge commuter network around Baghdad.
SAUDI ARABIA:
This is the third country in which we will have encountered the 1050 mm gauge Hejaz railway, and what is now Saudi Arabia certainly comprised the lion’s share of the total length of that railway. It was for decades the only railway in this land.
After World War II, two new Standard gauge lines were built, both roughly parallel to each other, and designed to move petroleum products from oilfields to the port at Dhahran
, on the Gulf.
Today, these two lines, one freight-only, one mixed passenger and freight, comprise all of Saudi Arabia’s current system. New lines are planned, including a 320 km/h high speed line between Mecca and Medina. No part of the Hejaz Railway currently exists in Saudi Arabia, other than non-operating sections of track and rolling stock in two or three locations, including Medina.
YEMEN, OMAN, BAHRAIN:
Neither Yemen, Oman nor Bahrain currently have any railways, although some are planned and are even being tendered for. That in Bahrain is planned to link with neighbouring countries as part of a pan-Gulf network.
The original metre-gauge Aden railway in what is now Yemen was built by the Royal Engineers in 1915-16, for use during World War I, and was extended and opened to the public by 1922. It closed in 1930, as being too expensive to run.
Oman also had a narrow gauge military railway. In the 1940s, the RAF built a railway (actual gauge unknown) on the island of Masirah in the Indian Ocean. It stopped being used by the RAF by the 1960s, and closed in 1977.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, QATAR, KUWAIT:
Mushrif Park in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) once had a small Standard gauge railway, opened, it appears, in the late 1960s. It closed in 1981. A 600 mm gauge railway also operated in Safa Park – this too is no longer in operation.
Today, unlike Yemen and Oman, the UAE has at least something of a modern railway system. The Dubai Metro already has two Standard gauge lines operating, with two more under construction, with an eventual total of 320 km. A 1435 mm gauge coastal tram line has also started operations, in 2014.
In Abu Dhabi a 340-km tram network is in the planning stages. All these lines are to Standard gauge.
Qatar too is planning a railway network; it will be to Standard gauge, and total over 350 km.
Finally, the tiny Arab state of Kuwait is planning a main-line railway, a 135-km line known as the Gulf Railway, that will connect Kuwait City with Saudi Arabia. A four-line 171-km metro is also planned in Kuwait City. All lines will be to 1435 mm Standard gauge.
IRAN:
Unlike most of its neighbours to the west and south, Iran has a relatively long history of railways. And the current gauges of its railways would appear to reflect its neighbours to the north and east. Certainly today, Iran represents one of the world’s more complex confluences of differing railway gauges – 1435 mm, 1520 mm and 1676 mm gauges can all be found either within the country or at least encroaching upon its borders.
The first line in Iran was a relatively short suburban line in Tehran, between Tehran and Shahr-e-Rey to the south. Opened in 1887, it closed in 1952. It was built to the highly unusual gauge of 800 mm. A gauge of 800 mm was possibly, like the gauge of 1050 mm we encountered earlier, another of those attempts to prevent an enemy’s trains running over your tracks, though this is purely speculation.
Railway building however didn’t start in earnest until World War I, when two lines were built in 1916 – the 150-km line from Tabriz to Jolfa, at the Azerbaijan border, and the 53-km line from Sufian to Sharafkhaneh. Both these lines were initially built to the Russian gauge of 1524 mm, but were re-gauged later to 1435 mm Standard gauge, at which they remain to this day. In addition to these two main lines, some military railways in World War I were built to 800 mm gauge – perhaps the gauge incompatibility with an enemy’s railways was intentional after all.
A number of lines were built in the inter-war years, but the next big project was the Trans-Iranian Railway, started in 1925, although it was not finally opened until the start of World War II. It was 1400 km long, built to 1435 mm gauge, stretched from Bandar Torkaman on the Caspian coast to Bandar Shahpur on the Gulf coast, and involved some heroic feats of engineering through very difficult and challenging country. In WWII, the Allies commandeered this railway in order to supply Soviet troops in Russia (with of course a break of gauge at the Soviet border).
More recently, starting in 1977, a number of new lines have been built, almost all to Standard gauge, including the Mashhad to Sarakhs section of what is known as the Silk Road Railway – otherwise known as the Trans-Asian Railway System (this will be covered in Part 4 of this book).
Today, Iran has over 11 000 km of main-line railways criss-crossing the country. They are all to 1435 mm Standard gauge, with the following exceptions:
94 km of 1520 mm line from Mashhad to the border with Turkmenistan;
92 km of 1676 mm gauge line from Zahedan to Mirjaveh at the border with Pakistan. Iran is trying to persuade Pakistan to convert the line from the border to Quetta to Standard gauge, or at least dual gauge it (the 241 mm gauge difference easily allows this).
And the above exemplifies some of the issues with connecting Iran with the rest of the world – does the country look east, and perhaps start to favour broad gauge lines (and if so, which of the two broad gauges – 1676 mm or 1520 mm?); or does it look west (something Iran is currently not overly disposed to do) and still maintain (and even improve) its 1435 mm gauge links?
There is a further 19 000 km of new railways planned in Iran, and Iran has declared that all of it will be to Standard gauge. Unless political upheavals or wars with other nations persuade the country to turn its back on the west, the direct Standard gauge rail links with the west should remain. In fact, there would be a huge cost to convert all of Iran’s railways to another gauge at this point in time, regardless of any of the political predilections involved.
Current international rail links, in addition to the ones noted above with Turkmenistan and Pakistan, include Azerbaijan (1520 mm gauge, bogie-changing at the border), and Turkey (1435 mm gauge, via a train ferry across Lake Van). Links are planned (and some are said to be under construction) with Afghanistan (gauge likely to be 1435 mm, though this is by no means certain – see Afghanistan in Part 4), Iraq (1435 mm gauge) and with Armenia (1520 mm gauge).
As far as a metro is concerned, a Standard gauge commuter line runs from Mehrshahr into Tehran. Two third-rail underground lines are in course of construction in Tehran itself, both to Standard gauge.
ON TO PART 4…
So far we have covered a good chunk of the world, consisting of two large continents, on our odyssey – yet we have much further to go. In fact, our next port of call in Part 4 is, both geographically and in terms of trackwork in place, the largest single area in the world using one gauge – 1520 mm.
If you have any comments or corrections to suggest, please contact my editor at:
[email protected]
Michael Frewston
© Frewston Books Online 2016.
Africa and the Middle East Page 4