A large section of the Iraqi Development Road, a rail project that looks to connect Iraq’s southern coast to its northern neighbour Türkiye, will get 930 million dollars in funding from the World Bank. The institution says that the investment will help turn Iraq into a regional transport hub.
The 930-million dollar investment is part of the Iraq Railways Extension and Modernization (IREM) project. IREM seeks to improve railway infrastructure between the Umm Qasr port, Iraq’s only deep water port, to Mosul in the north of Iraq.
Such a railway would cover a big part of the 2023 Development Road (IDR) plan. That plan hopes to link the Umm Qasr port to Türkiye, creating a logistics link that could reach all the way into Europe.
“As Iraq shifts from reconstruction to development, enhanced trade and connectivity can stimulate growth, create jobs, and reduce oil dependency”, commented Jean-Christophe Carret, World Bank Middle East Division Director. “The IREM project is vital for transforming Iraq into a regional transport hub and helping achieve the IDR’s goals of improved connectivity and economic diversification and growth.”
In concrete terms, the IREM project aims to:
• Rehabilitate and modernise 1,047 km of key railway lines linking Umm Qasr Port, Baghdad, and Mosul.
• Upgrade rolling stock and maintenance capacity, including fleet renewal, refurbishment of the Baiji workshop, and procurement of equipment and spare parts.
• Enhance railway safety through infrastructure upgrades, a new Safety Management System, level crossing improvements, staff training, and community awareness.
• Boost private sector involvement by enabling investment in dry ports, logistics hubs, and broader rail operations.
• Strengthen the institutional performance of Iraqi Republic Railways (IRR) with technical assistance and a Railway Sector Reform Action Plan.
• Promote workforce inclusion, including training for IRR staff and initiatives to support women’s participation in the rail sector.
The Umm Qasr – Mosul railway is expected to move 6,3 million tonnes of domestic freight and 1,1 million tonnes of imports and exports by 2037. That includes bulk commodities, but also containerised ones.