MOT: We are planning to transport 13 million passengers annually through the development road

Baghdad - INA

The General Railway Company, affiliated with the Ministry of Transport, confirmed today, Thursday, that it plans to transport 13 million passengers annually via the Development Road, and while it indicated that its lines will extend to all governorates in a later step, it expected to collect revenues from the road comparable to oil revenues.

The company's general manager, Younis Khaled Al-Kaabi, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "The Ministry of Transport chose the path of the development road after reviewing 3 proposals from the company designing the project, and the choice was made based on accurate data.".

He added, "The path starts from the port of Al-Faw and goes up the map of Iraq from south to north, passing through ten governorates, reaching Dohuk Governorate and then the Iraqi-Turkish border, and its length is 1,200 km. We finished resolving the technical issues and conflicts with a length of 1,170 km, and the remaining is only 30 km from the north of Rabia to Fish Khabour." The far north of Dohuk.

Al-Kaabi stressed, “In the Ministry of Transport, we plan to transport 13 million passengers annually via the Development Road, and this number is distributed among fast trains that operate at a rate of four hours a day to transport passengers, allocate 12 hours for transporting goods and containers, and 6 hours for compulsory daily maintenance, because the high-speed line and its maintenance are obligatory.” Timings may vary, meaning the hours of transporting goods or passenger lines may increase depending on momentum and necessities.”.

He continued, "The railway route on the current development road is not final, and we plan to extend the railway networks linked to the road to include all governorates, including the Kurdistan region. This means that the road will not be allocated only to external transport, but will contribute to internal transport as well.".

He pointed out, "The state is planning to establish major projects along the development road, including 11 industrial cities, as well as other investments. This means that transports along the road will be in the millions of tons annually, providing huge financial revenues that may be equivalent to oil revenues."