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The IRR Eastern Line, alternatively the Baghdad-Erbil Railway was a metre-gauge railway connecting Baghdad and Erbil via Baqubah and Kirkuk in Iraq. It was part of the Iraqi Republic Railways network. It ran roughly 60km east parallel to the Baghdad Railway, but it ran on the left bank of the Tigris. It was the last railway of its type in Iraq.

History

Construction and Operation

The idea of constructing a railway line from Baghdad to Kirkuk was discussed in the latter half of the 19th century. However, the project was delayed due to the disruptions caused by World War I. After the Britsh received the Mandate for Mesopotamia in 1918, the Baghdad Quraitu Railway commenced construction, with work on the Kirkuk Railway Station beginning six years later in 1925. The foundations for the Kirkuk-Baghdad-Haifa Railway were laid starting in 1930. The section connecting Baghdad to Haifa was eventually abandoned because of the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli War . Still, the Mesopotamian Railways continued the construction of the railway line towards Kirkuk, from Quraitu onwards. After Kirkuk had been reached a 12 km long connection to the Baba Gurgur oil refinery was built from Kirkuk.

In 1949, the railway was extended by 105 kilometers to Erbil, with a new steel bridge crossing the Great Zab River near Al-Tun. By 1950, the first train arrived in Erbil. In 1963, a project to extend the railway further to Sulaymaniyah was initiated by Major General Saleh Zaki Tawfiq, the Iraqi Director of Railways. However, this plan was abandoned after the regime change in 1968.

Opening Dates:

Decommissioning

After 1968, the railway eventually lost importance due to political shifts in Iraq. During the Ba'athist regime, a similar plan to Saleh Zaki Tawfiq's was put forward to replace the existing railway with a new standard-gauge railway for interoperability with the IRR Southern and Northern, due to the retrofitting of the IRR Southern Line from metre-to standard-gauge in 1964, the old railway lost its interoperability. This plan included the idea of extending the line to Sulaymaniyah. However, after further planning and evaluation, it was decided to build a new standard-gauge railway from Kirkuk to Haditha, with an interchange at Baiji on the Berlin-Baghdad Railway, creating a faster connection to Baghdad from Kirkuk, making the old connection obsolete. Erbil and the rest of the Kurdistan Region slowly lost their rail service after the metre-gauge railway that connected them started closing in 1984 by the Office of the Presidency of the Iraqi Republic and finished on May 15, 1988. Other, unstated reasons were to not only connect Kirkuk better to other Sunni Arab areas in the west of Iraq to make Arabisation easier, as well as to cut off railway access to Kurdish areas following the autonomy of Iraqi Kurdistan in 1970. As a result, many landmarks along the old line, such as the Erbil Railway Terminal, the Baba Kiwan Junction, multiple bridges, and various facilities such as hotels and hospitals, were demolished.

1. ^ Abdul Aziz, M.D. Dilshad Omar (July 2017). "تاريخ السكك الحديد في كركوك وأثره االقتصادي واالجتماعي" [History of the Railways in Kirkuk and their economic and social impact]. (مجلة علمية محكمة)مجلة الدراسات التاريخية و الحضارية [Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies(a peer-reviewed scientific journal)] (in Arabic). 9 (30): 38. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
2. Robinson, S. 24.
3. Robinson, Neil (August 2006). World Rail Atlas. World Rail Atlas Ltd. pp. 25 f. ISBN 978-954-12-0128-2.
4. Grantham, Andrew (8 February 2014). "Railway lines in Iraq". andrewgrantham.co.uk. Retrieved January 2, 2024. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Baiji on February 8 1983. Ceremonial inauguration of the KBH in the presence of the then Minister of Communication Mr Mohammed Hamza Al Zubaidi on November 7 1987 (not 1988).