Length 2.423 million m Founded 1903 Dates of operation 1956–2012 Predecessors Damascus, Hejaz Railway | Headquarters Aleppo, Syria Locale Syria Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | |
General Establishment of Syrian Railways (Arabic: المؤسسة العامة للخطوط الحديدية, French: Chemins de fer syriens, CFS) is the national railway operator for the state of Syria, subordinate to the Ministry of Transportation. It was established in 1956 and is headquartered in Aleppo. Syria's rail infrastructure has been severely compromised as a result of the ongoing civil conflict in the country.
Contents
History
The first railway in Syria opened when the country was part of the Ottoman Empire, with the 1,050 mm (3 ft 5 11⁄32 in) gauge line from Damascus to the port city of Beirut in present-day Lebanon opened in 1895. The famous Hejaz railway opened in 1908 between Damascus and Medina in present-day Saudi Arabia also used 1,050 mm (3 ft 5 11⁄32 in) gauge. Railways after this point were built to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) , including the Baghdad Railway. The French wanted an extension of the standard gauge railway to connect with the Palestine Railways and so agreed the building of a branch line to Tripoli, Lebanon, operated by Société Ottomane du Chemin de fer Damas-Hama et prolongements, also known as DHP.
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. 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.
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.
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 Egypt, they initially operated services via the Hejaz Railway, but were frustrated by the need to transload goods due to the gauge break. They surveyed a route from Haifa to Rayak in 1941, but decided there were too many construction difficulties. The standard gauge line from Beirut to Haifa was eventually built by Commonwealth military engineers from South Africa and Oceania during WWII, in part supplied by a 1,050 mm (3 ft 5 11⁄32 in) gauge railway to access materials. Eventually Turkey remained neutral and refused the Allies access to their jointly controlled sections of the Baghdad Railway, although by then the Allies had driven the Palestine Railway through to Al Akkari, Homs, Hama and onward to connect with the Baghdad Railway at Aleppo.
Locomotives servicing the Allied war effort included the British R.A. Riddles designed WD Austerity 2-10-0, four of which post war went into Syrian service, designed CFS Class 150.6.
In 1956, all railways in Syria were nationalised, and reorganised as CF Syriennes (CFS) from 1 January 1965. Expanded with monetary and industrial assistance from the USSR, the agreement covered the joint industrial development of the country. Covering the development of the ports of Tartus and Latakia, they were initially connected by rail to Al Akkari and Aleppo in 1968 and 1975 respectively. An irrigation project on the Euphrates, resulting in the construction of the Tabqa Dam, drove the connection of Aleppo to Al-Thawrah (1968), Raqqa (1972) Deir ez Zor (1973), reaching the old Baghdad Railway at Al Qamishli in 1976.
Network
Today, all 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) network and trains are operated by CFS. Using all diesel-electric powered traction, the main routes prior to the Syrian Civil War were:
Pre-war proposals
Prior to the civil war there was a proposal for a connection with Iraq between Dayr az Zawr and Al Qa’im. However, all international routes operated by Syrian Railways were suspended due to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War.
Trackage
These were the figures prior to the ongoing Syrian conflict:
Operations
The network is designed wholly around diesel-electric traction. For operational purposes CFS is divided into three regions: Central, Eastern and Northern. At the end of 2004 CFS employed around 12,400 staff.
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 interlocked signalling, with most of the system operating by informal signalling. The Damascus al-Hijaz railway station, which lies in the city centre, is no longer operational, and the railway connections with other cities depart from the suburban station of Kadam.
The result is that most passenger traffic has moved to air-conditioned coaches, and freight traffic dominates the operational trackage. The 2005 introduction of South Korean-built DMUs, where drivers were trained using a simulator, on the Damascus - Aleppo route, and the high traffic Aleppo - Latakia route where intermediate stations are bypassed, resulted in higher usage and occupancy levels.
The only international connection was with Turkey, but that link was halted due to the Syrian Civil War. The link with Iraq, severed in the war of 2003, was restored for a time but closed again; there was a plan to reopen it in June 2009. In 2008 it was proposed to open a joint rolling stock factory with Turkish State Railways at Aleppo.
The only remaining section of narrow gauge line, running from a point on the outskirts of Damascus into Jordan, is operated by Jordan Hejaz Railways.
Current
Motive power
The motive power in 2007 was noted as:
Passenger vehicles
The railway possessed:
Freight wagons
Future
In 2003 the Syrian government planned to invest €9 billion in the system, with €12 billion annually to be spent in succeeding years. The longer term development of the network up to 2020 was the subject of studies undertaken with the help of the Japanese consultancy Jaika. Proposals included the construction of new lines for speeds of up to 250 km/h to Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Restructuring of CFS was foreseen, with the state assuming responsibility for infrastructure and railway operations placed in the hands of separate independent business units.
In October 2010 there were plans to set up a joint centre for rail studies, with Ferrovie dello Stato; and plans to build a rail link between Damascus and Jordan were temporarily revived, subject to funding.