KRG minister says railway project to link al-Faw to Ibrahim-Khalil

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region's Minister of Transport and Communications, Ano Jawhar, on Friday said that the railway project is expected to connect the southernmost region of Iraq and the northernmost point of Kurdistan at the Ibrahim-Khalil border-crossing.

In an interview with Kurdistan 24, Jawhar highlighted the economic importance of the massive infrastructure project to the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, especially in shipping and transporting goods from east to west.

He added that he had recently met Iraqi and Turkish railway giants to discuss key details of the project.

"We put forward our plans to the Iraqi and Turkish sides, including the need for the railway to pass through Kirkuk, Erbil, and then to Mosul, and from there to Duhok, then Zakho, to the Ibrahim-Khalil border crossing, and from there to Turkish territory through the city of Nusaybin and then to Europe."

Jawhar explained that a rail line would facilitate the shipping of goods, cutting down transportation times and costs.

"We are also interested in the internal line project, which would extend from Sulaimani to Erbil and other cities in the Kurdistan Region, and then it will be linked to the railway connecting al-Faw to Ibrahim-Khalil," Jawhar said.

Iraq has an outdated rail network that has not witnessed any development after it extended during the 1960s to Istanbul and Aleppo in Syria via Mosul.

The network was devastated during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and deteriorated during the sanctions period in the 1990s and the violence that followed, except for regular service to Basra and now Fallujah.