30 August 2023; MEMO: Iraq is to kick-start the much-delayed cross-border railway line connecting it with neighbouring Iran. Citing a government source, the Shafaq News Agency reported today that Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani is to visit the southern province of Basra where he will lay the foundation stone for the 36 kilometre railway project.
The rail will link Iraq’s Basra with the Iranian border town of Shalamcheh and will have a capacity to transport three million passengers per year. An agreement was signed between the two countries in 2021 to commence construction after being in the pipeline for many years. Prior to this, plans were shelved in 2014, the same year that Daesh emerged across parts of northern Iraq and eastern Syria.
After repeated set-backs and delays, efforts were revived in April with Baghdad and Tehran agreeing to implement the railway link during a meeting between Iraqi Minister of Transport Razzaq Mohibis Al-Saadawi and the Iranian Minister of Roads and Housing Mehrdad Bazarbash in the Iranian capital.
In June Amwaj Media cited Jalal Mokhtari, the head of public relations at the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (IRIR), who explained that there are particular complexities to constructing “a movable bridge for trains and ships to pass through the Arvand [River].”
Until now, Iraq hadn’t started construction on tracks on its side of the border due to impediments posed by the lingering threats of land mines placed during the Iran-Iraq War. Mokhtari was quoted as saying: “We are waiting for the Iraqi side’s demining operation and to build the railway track.”
Aside from economic issues which have caused delays, there have also been disputes over who will carry out construction.
