イラクとトルコを結ぶ鉄道運行を再開
Turkey, Iraq revive rail link
(AFP) – 2 hours ago
ANKARA ― The first passenger train from Iraq arrived in Turkey on Wednesday after the two neighbours revived a historic rail link as part of a drive to boost bilateral ties, officials said.
The train, which embarked from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, was greeted with an official ceremony in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, covering the distance of some 500 kilometres (310 miles) in 18 hours.
The resumption of rail services was among a series of agreements that Turkey and Iraq signed last year in a bid to boost economic exchange.
The train, which links the two countries via Syria, is scheduled to make one run in both directions each week.
It had 13 passengers on its first trip Wednesday, Anatolia news agency reported.
The Mosul-Gaziantep link is part of a railway linking Istanbul and Baghdad, built in the dying years of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.
It remained disused for almost 20 years when Syria closed its section before re-opening it in 2001. But trains stopped running again in 2003 after the US-led invasion of Iraq, an official from the Turkish rail authority TCDD said.
Turkey has revived also rail links with Iran and Syria as part of a broader drive to boost relations with Muslim nations in the Middle East, spearheaded by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government.
Speaking at the ceremony in Gaziantep Wednesday, TCDD director Suleyman Karaman said 70 million dollars (60 million euros) were spent to renovate the tracks linking Turkey with Iraq and Syria, Anatolia reported.
A fast train between Gaziantep and the northern Syrian city of Aleppo will be inaugurated soon, he said.
(AFP) – 2 hours ago
ANKARA ― The first passenger train from Iraq arrived in Turkey on Wednesday after the two neighbours revived a historic rail link as part of a drive to boost bilateral ties, officials said.
The train, which embarked from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, was greeted with an official ceremony in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, covering the distance of some 500 kilometres (310 miles) in 18 hours.
The resumption of rail services was among a series of agreements that Turkey and Iraq signed last year in a bid to boost economic exchange.
The train, which links the two countries via Syria, is scheduled to make one run in both directions each week.
It had 13 passengers on its first trip Wednesday, Anatolia news agency reported.
The Mosul-Gaziantep link is part of a railway linking Istanbul and Baghdad, built in the dying years of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.
It remained disused for almost 20 years when Syria closed its section before re-opening it in 2001. But trains stopped running again in 2003 after the US-led invasion of Iraq, an official from the Turkish rail authority TCDD said.
Turkey has revived also rail links with Iran and Syria as part of a broader drive to boost relations with Muslim nations in the Middle East, spearheaded by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government.
Speaking at the ceremony in Gaziantep Wednesday, TCDD director Suleyman Karaman said 70 million dollars (60 million euros) were spent to renovate the tracks linking Turkey with Iraq and Syria, Anatolia reported.
A fast train between Gaziantep and the northern Syrian city of Aleppo will be inaugurated soon, he said.
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