Syrian Railways
narrow gauge) | |
Length | 2,750 km (1,710 mi) |
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Other | |
Website | https://www.cfssyria.sy |
General Establishment of Syrian Railways
History
The first railway in Syria opened when the country was part of the
The Baghdad Railway had progressed as far as Aleppo by 1912, with the branch to Tripoli complete, by the start of World War I; and onwards to Nusaybin by October 1918.[8] The Turks, who sided with Germany and the Central Powers, decided to recover the infrastructure south of Aleppo to the Lebanon in 1917. The Baghdad Railway created opportunity and problems for both sides, being unfinished but running just south of the then defined Syrian/Turkish border.[7] Post war, the border was redrawn, and the railway was now north of the border. DHP reinstated the Tripoli line by 1921. From 1922 the Baghdad Railway was worked in succession by two French companies, who were liquidated in 1933 when the border was again redrawn, placing the Baghdad Railway section again in Syrian control. Lignes Syriennes de Baghdad (LSB) took over operations, a subsidiary of DHP.[7]
The next big developments in Syrian railways were due to the political manoeuvering leading up to and during World War II. As Turkey had sided with Germany in World War One, the Allies were concerned with poor transport in the area, and their ability to bring force on the Turks. Having built railways extensions in both the Eastern and Western deserts of
Locomotives servicing the Allied war effort included the British
In 1956, all railways in Syria were nationalised, and reorganised as CFS (Chemins de Fer Syriens) from 1 January 1965. Expanded with monetary and industrial assistance from the
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Hejaz Railway Station, Damascus
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Colonel Philibert Collet's Circassian Cavalry outside the railway station at Damascus, 26 June 1941
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Baghdad railway station in Aleppo, built in 1915
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Bridge on the Aleppo-Latakia line
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Bridge over theEuphrates river
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Latakia railway station
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Daraa railway station
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Main train station, Aleppo
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Baghdad Railway train, circa 1910
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Hejaz Railway - Damascus square and pillar. The gabled building is the Hejaz Railway Line office.
Tramway
Location | Traction Type |
Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Halab حلب /Aleppo | Electric | 1929 | 1967 | [1]. |
Dimashq دمشق /Damascus | Electric | 7 Feb 1907 | 1967 | [2]. |
Current system
Network
Chemins de fer Syriens | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Key
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All 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) network and trains were operated by CFS. Using all
- Damascus - Homs - Hamah - Aleppo - Maydan Ikbis (- Ankara TCDD)
- Aleppo - Latakia - Tartus - Al Akkari - Homs
- Homs - Palmyra: freight only, opened for phosphates traffic, destined for the port of Tartus, in 1980
- Line runs from the oilfields of Al Qamishli in the north to the port of Latakia(750 km)
- Al Akkari (- Tripoli CEL, out of use)
- Aleppo - Deir ez-Zor - Al-Qamishli (- Nusaybin TCDD)
- Extension from Homs southwards to Damascus (194 km) was opened in 1983
- 80 km (50 mi) Tartus-Latakia line in 1992
- Al Qamishli - Al-Yaarubiyah (- IRR Iraq, out of use)
- Damascus - Sheikh Miskin - Dera'a: under construction, to replace a section of Hejaz railway
- Sheikh Miskin - Suwayda (under construction)
- Palmyra - Deir ez-Zor - Abu Kemal (- IRR Iraq) (planned)
Current proposals
Prior to the war there was a proposal for a connection with Iraq between Deir ez-Zor and Al Qa’im.[13] However, all international routes operated by Syrian Railways were already non-operational due to severe negligence by the Syrian government. It was then officially suspended due to the outbreak of the Syrian revolution.
The restoration of the rail link with Iraq (
Trackage
These were the figures prior to the ongoing Syrian conflict:
- total: 2,750 km (1,710 mi)
- standard gauge: 2,423 km (1,506 mi) 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) gauge
- narrow gauge: 327 km (203 mi) 1,050 mm (3 ft 5+11⁄32 in) gauge (2000) Chemin de Fer de Hedjaz Syrie
Operations
The network is designed wholly around
The system has a low level capacity, with top speed usually limited. A 30 km (19 mi) section of the Damascus - Aleppo line was designed for speeds reaching 120 km/h (75 mph), but most of the track has a limit of 110 km/h (68 mph). Most tracks of the CFS are limited to 80 km/h (50 mph). Operational train speed is also limited by a lack of
The result is that most passenger traffic has moved to air-conditioned coaches, and freight traffic dominates the operational trackage. The 2005 introduction of
route where intermediate stations are bypassed, resulted in higher usage and occupancy levels.The only remaining section of narrow gauge line, running from a point on the outskirts of Damascus into Jordan, is operated by Hedjaz Jordan Railway.
International connections
The only international connection was with
Background on trains from Istanbul to Syria: A brief history of the Taurus Express:
Agatha Christie wrote the first part of her novel Murder on the Orient Express during her stay in room 203 in Baron Hotel in Aleppo.[19] The novel doesn't start in Istanbul, or on the Orient Express. It opens on the platform at Aleppo, next to the two blue-and-gold Wagons-Lits sleeping cars of the Taurus Express bound for Istanbul. The Taurus Express was inaugurated in February 1930 by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the same company that operated the Orient Express and Simplon Orient Express, as a means of extending their services beyond Istanbul to the East. It ran several times a week from Istanbul Haydarpaşa station to Aleppo and Baghdad, with a weekly through sleeper to Tripoli in Lebanon. After the second world war, the Wagons-Lits company gradually withdrew and operation of the Taurus Express was taken over by the Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi state railways. Up until the late 1980s, a twice-weekly Istanbul-Baghdad service was maintained, with weekly through seating cars from Istanbul to Aleppo. For political reasons, the through service to Baghdad was suspended and the main train curtailed at Gaziantep, but the weekly through seat cars Istanbul-Aleppo were maintained. In 2001, the Aleppo portion of the Toros Express was speeded-up and given a proper Syrian sleeping-car instead of the two very basic Turkish seat cars. You could once again travel in the security and comfort of a proper sleeper from Istanbul to Syria, and it was a great way to go.[20]
Rolling stock
Current
Motive power
The motive power in 2009 was noted as:[21][22]
Class | Image | Axle Formula | Number | Year in Service | Power [kW] |
Max.Speed [km/h] | Traction Type* | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
unknown | Steam locomotive in Bosra | |||||||
LDE-650 | Bo-Bo | 9 | 1968 | 478 | DE | Shunting locomotives built in France | ||
LDE-1200 | Co-Co
|
11 | 1973 | 883 | 100 | DE | TEM2 Shunting locomotives built in USSR , 346 kN tractive effort
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LDE-1500
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Co-Co | 25 | 1982 | 1102 | DE | ČSD Class T 669.0[23]
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LDE-1800 | Co-Co | 26 | 1976 | 1323 | DE | American built General Electric U17C export model. 30 originally built in 2 batches | ||
LDE-2800 | Co-Co | 77 | 1982 | 2058 | 100 | DE | Russian TE114, 110 originally built. Partly modernised by GE FDL of 3000 hp[24]
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LDE-3200
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Co-Co | 30 | 1999 | 2400 | 120 | DE | French | |
DMU-5 | 10 | 2006 | 1680 | 120/160 | DH | Multiple unit from Hyundai Rotem, Korea for Aleppo-Damascus/Latakia long-distance services. 222 second class, 61 first class | ||
* DH = Diesel-hydraulic, DE = Diesel-electric |
Passenger vehicles
The railway possessed:[21]
- German Democratic Republic, the newest of which were obtained from Căile Ferate Române of Romania and Polish State Railways.
- The stock of 483 carriages includes: 19 restaurant, 45 sleepers and 33 baggage vans. In 2001, Iranian company Wagon Pars refurbished some stock which is still in use, while the remaining unused stock lie rotting in sidings.
Class | Image | Number | Year in Service | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Type Y[27] | 358 | 1982-'83 | Original built for VEB Bautzen. Delivered in orange-cream Städteexpress livery
| |
Cars for DMU-5 | N/A | 2006 | Built for Aleppo - Latakia line by Hyundai Rotem |
Freight wagons
- , construction materials and other transports. Most of 4319 vehicles were built between 1960 and 1975, with the most modern stock the grain wagons imported from Iran in the early 1990s. Approximate figures for stock:
- 1294 Heavy Flat wagons
- 846 Open wagons
- 818 Oil tankers
- 762 Covered wagons
- 597 Grain wagons
- 323 Phosphate wagons
- 178 Sliding wall wagons
- 146 Self unloading wagons
- 53 Flat wagons
- 50 Natural gas tankers
- 45 Cement wagons
- 20 Water tankers
- 19 Tippers
Retired
Class | Image | Axle Formula | Number | Year in Service | Power [kW] |
Max.Speed [km/h] | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
De Dion Bouton
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railcar | 1930 | Built for Hejaz Railway
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MAVAG R12
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railcar | ||||||
SGP AB49000[28][29] | B'B' Railcar | 7 | 1966 | 470 | 100 | Length: 26 meters. 20 seats 1st class; 58 seats 2nd class. |
See also
- List of town tramway systems in Asia
- List of countries by rail transport network size
- Arab Mashreq International Railway
- Hejaz railway
- Hedjaz Jordan Railway
- Damascus–Amman train
- Aleppo railway station
- Transport in Syria
- Rail transport in Lebanon
- OTIF
References
- ^ "الرئيسية." (Home page) Syrian Railways. 26 October 2007. Retrieved on 22 October 2013.
- ^ "اتصـال." Syrian Railways. 16 June 2006. Retrieved on 22 October 2013.
- ^ "Hme page." Syrian Railways. 21 May 2006. Retrieved on 22 October 2013.
- ^ a b "Chemins de fer Syriens". Ferenc Valoczy. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ "Contact us." Syrian Railways. 17 June 2006. Retrieved on 22 October 2013. "Syrian Arab Republic Ministry of Transportation Syrian Railways Syria - Aleppo"
- ^ "Railways in Syria".
- ^ a b c d e f Hugh Hughes. "Middle East Railways". almashriq.hiof.no. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
- ^ Glyn Williams (15 December 2020). "Railways in Syria". sinfin.net. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
- ^ Rowledge, J.W.P. (1987). Austerity 2-8-0s & 2-10-0s. London: Ian Allan.
- ^ "CFS Motive Power". Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- accessiblefrom Syria.
- ^ "Chemins de fer Syriens". Jaynes. Archived from the original on 2013-01-27. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ "Syrian National Railways plans". Railways in Africa. 25 March 2014.
- ^ Majda Muhsen, Anoop Menon (9 June 2022). "Iraq and Syria discuss railway link". Zawya project. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
- ^ "Iran and Iraq again agree to connect their railway networks". www.al-monitor.com. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
- ^ "Syrian train simulator". YouTube. April 15, 2008. Retrieved May 7, 2009.[dead YouTube link]
- ^ Inc., Tom Brosnahan, Travel Info Exchange. "Trains Turkey <—> Syria". www.turkeytravelplanner.com. Retrieved 2017-01-29.
{{cite web}}
:|last=
has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "June launch scheduled for Iraq-Syria railway". arabiansupplychain.com. April 29, 2009. Archived from the original on June 28, 2009. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
- )
- ^ "How to travel by train from London to Syria | Train travel in Syria".
- ^ a b "CFS". railfaneurope.net. 2008-06-25. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
- ^ "GE Locomotives in Asia & Middle East". Locopage. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- ^ "Řada 770 (T669.0), 770.5,6 (T 669.05), 770.8 (T 669.5), "Čmelák" - Motorové lokomotivy - Atlas lokomotiv". www.zelpage.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 2013-10-07. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
- ^ "GE Locomotives in Asia & Middle East". locopage.net. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- ^ "PRIMA DE 32 C AC diesel locomotives, Syria". www.transport.alstom.com. Alstom. Archived from the original on 17 October 2005.
- ^ Railfaneurope.net : Syrian diesels
- ^ HaRakevet: Rothschild PhD, Rabbi Walter (December 2004), Modelling notes - Syrian coaches. Series 17:4 issue 67
- ^ Flickr.com
- ^ Source