PHOTO
Iraqis lean out of carriage doors as their train leaves Baghdad central railway station May 7, 2003. The train was the first passenger train to leave Baghdad bound for Basra since the toppling of [Saddam Hussein.]
Iraq will soon award a contract to a consultancy firm for the design of a new express rail network that will connect central areas with Baghdad, an adviser to Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani said on Thursday.
The rail will link in its first phase Samarra, Karbala and Najaf and will stretch in the stage two to the capital Baghdad, Nassir Al-Assadi said.
Assadi, an adviser for transport, told the official news agency INA that the train will have a speed of 240 km/hour and a capacity to transport nearly one million passengers per day.
“The project will be launched just after the design and management contract is awarded to a consultancy company,” Assadi said.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
(anoop.menon@lseg.com)
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