Iraq-Iran railway link ready in 18 months: Iraqi adviser
Iraq hopes to complete its first railway link with neighbouring Iran within 18 months, largely to help facilitate the transport of millions of pilgrims that visit Shia Muslim shrines in Iraq each year, a senior transport adviser said.
The roughly 30-kilometre (18.64 miles) line will run between Iraq’s southern city of Basra and the Iranian border town of Shalamja, linking nations with ties that have deepened since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, after which pro-Tehran Shia Muslim parties enhanced their influence in Baghdad, Reuters wrote.
“We should see the trains moving in about 18 months because it’s a small distance,” Nasser Al-Asadi, transport advisor to the Iraqi prime minister, told Reuters. Asadi said work was underway to clear the area before ground work could begin on the rail link.
Regularly, the world’s largest annual religious gathering of up to 20 million mostly Shia Muslims takes part in the ‘Arbaeen’ pilgrimage to Iraq’s holy city of Karbala to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (PBUH), grandson of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
Many pilgrims walk hundreds of kilometres from the Iran-Iraq border to Karbala or drive there in overcrowded cars and buses, and deadly accidents have been frequent.
Asadi said the rail link would reduce the risk of such accidents and allow Iraq to benefit financially from ticket sales.