General Discussion

I believe it connects to Turkey and possibly also Syria.

Not sure about UAE, but that would seem difficult.

LC 

I know there is a conection to the Turkish Railroad system. 

A reliable source told me that when Iraq RR locomotives were fitted with the hardware for the new dispatch/train control system installed as part of the reconstruction project, the locomotives were taken inside the Turkish boarder.  I believe that was done because the builder of the system hardware did not want to put their technicians in an area as dangerous as Baghdad.

So can a buy a ticket or even ship a boxcar of relief for the people there from Europe to Iraq?

I know that Iraq was run by the Brits who helped build there RR System in WW1 and 2

Iron Nipple wrote:

So can a buy a ticket or even ship a boxcar of relief for the people there from Europe to Iraq? I know that Iraq was run by the Brits who helped build there RR System in WW1 and 2

What kind of boxcars ?

Is there anything the could backhaul to Europe ?

Are you still in New York, or are you back in Cleveland ?

TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY Putting Iraq ’s trains on track C.R. firm helps make Iraqi railroad safer By George C. Ford The Gazette E quipment designed in Cedar Rapids is being installed on Iraqi national railroad locomotives to help prevent deadly collisions in the war-torn country. Wabtec Railway Electronics, 5250 N. River Blvd. NE, received a contract from Mafeks International, a U.S.-Turkish joint venture, to develop and supply its electronic train management system......

The above is from the Cedar Rapids Gazette dated 12-4-06. The Gazette wants money to gaze upon their stories. I only quoted a small portion of the rather long article.

The installation and crew training was being done in Turkey for the safety of all involved. This would make one think there is a rail connection. If this was part of Kaiser Willhelm's Berlin to Bagdad railroad to make inroads into Britain's sphere of influence prior to 1914, I know not.  

It is interesting that as the system is being implemented, the entire Iraq rail system will be dispatched from Cedar Rapids. Copper wire along the right of way is going the way of the telegraph key.

Here is a map showing the connection to Turkey, it cuts across a little corner of Syria.

Irak is how the country's name is spelled in German.

Turkish Rail Map 

Victrola1 wrote:

If this was part of Kaiser Willhelm's Berlin to Bagdad railroad to make inroads into Britain's sphere of influence prior to 1914, I know not.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ORIENT-EXPRESS-BAGHDAD-TRAVEL-VINTAGE-POSTER_W0QQitem

Z270065738221QQihZ017QQcategoryZ28009QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem 

Please don't think that I am trying to promote the sale of anything on this forum. But I just bought this poster as Christmas gift and I think it's pretty cool and it fits the topic of discussion.  

This site has  maps of Iraq showing the railroads

  http://www.ajg41.clara.co.uk/iraqrailways.html

Victrola1 wrote:

TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY Putting Iraq ’s trains on track C.R. firm helps make Iraqi railroad safer By George C. Ford The Gazette E quipment designed in Cedar Rapids is being installed on Iraqi national railroad locomotives to help prevent deadly collisions in the war-torn country. Wabtec Railway Electronics, 5250 N. River Blvd. NE, received a contract from Mafeks International, a U.S.-Turkish joint venture, to develop and supply its electronic train management system......   The above is from the Cedar Rapids Gazette dated 12-4-06. The Gazette wants money to gaze upon their stories. I only quoted a small portion of the rather long article. The installation and crew training was being done in Turkey for the safety of all involved. This would make one think there is a rail connection. If this was part of Kaiser Willhelm's Berlin to Bagdad railroad to make inroads into Britain's sphere of influence prior to 1914, I know not.   It is interesting that as the system is being implemented, the entire Iraq rail system will be dispatched from Cedar Rapids. Copper wire along the right of way is going the way of the telegraph key.

Cedar Rapids eh?? So if we can dispacth a railroad in Iraq from Cedar Rapids Iowa...whoes to say we can not dispacth a US railroad from Manilla Philipines?

Victrola1 wrote:

TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY Putting Iraq ’s trains on track C.R. firm helps make Iraqi railroad safer By George C. Ford The Gazette E quipment designed in Cedar Rapids is being installed on Iraqi national railroad locomotives to help prevent deadly collisions in the war-torn country. Wabtec Railway Electronics, 5250 N. River Blvd. NE, received a contract from Mafeks International, a U.S.-Turkish joint venture, to develop and supply its electronic train management system......   The above is from the Cedar Rapids Gazette dated 12-4-06. The Gazette wants money to gaze upon their stories. I only quoted a small portion of the rather long article. The installation and crew training was being done in Turkey for the safety of all involved. This would make one think there is a rail connection. If this was part of Kaiser Willhelm's Berlin to Bagdad railroad to make inroads into Britain's sphere of influence prior to 1914, I know not.   It is interesting that as the system is being implemented, the entire Iraq rail system will be dispatched from Cedar Rapids. Copper wire along the right of way is going the way of the telegraph key.

Can't help you with the article, as I don't subscribe to the Gazette either.  Did find Wabtec's site, though- http://www.wabtec.com/railroad/railroad_home.asp

......Mafeks hired Wabtec to develop an onboard train control system. ‘‘All of it is communications- based using a satellite,’’ said Stephen Graham, Wabtec vice president of train control marketing. ‘‘It literally gives us the capability of controlling the Iraqi railroad from Cedar Rapids.’’ Knott said that will happen during testing of the system in the first quarter of 2007. ‘‘Originally, they were going to do it all from Baghdad, but we have come up with a technical way to dispatch the trains from Cedar Rapids,’’ he said. ‘‘We will actually run trains in Iraq for two weeks.’’ .....  Cedar Rapids Gazette 12-4-06

Chinese train dispatchers will work cheaper. How long before these jobs are exported? As the technology improves, why not a virtual "crew" staring at a screen monitoring several views from a moving train and puncing a keyboard accordingly? St. Louis to Chicago courtesy of the boys in Bejing.

To rephrase the mantra at Schools of Business in American Universities 40 years ago, We do not need to what we are supposed to be doing. We only need to know how to manage that about which we know nothing.  

Iron Nipple wrote:

So can a buy a ticket or even ship a boxcar of relief for the people there from Europe to Iraq? I know that Iraq was run by the Brits who helped build there RR System in WW1 and 2

Railroads in Iraq and Turkey are 4' 8.5" gauge so in principle it should be possible to ship stuff all across Europe. Examples of the British LMS 8F 2-8-0's survive in both countries.

 When the (English) Channel Tunnel opened for business in 1994, one of the first freight trains thru it was a special laid on for the US Army. It transported a whole US Army field hospital all the way from  a base in Britain to one of the former Soviet Republics as part of the relief effort following an earthquake.

More recently staff at DRS, one of the open access operators in the UK, organised a special relief train that ran all the way from Carlisle, England to Kosovo. Apart from in the Channel Tunnel the special was worked throughout by the same locos, a pair of ex-British Rail class 20's which date back to 1957!