Iraq has approved a plan to buy 50 new trains from international manufacturers to serve a 1,200-km rail line under construction in the Arab country, an official has said.

Nearly 66 percent of the design studies for the project dubbed ‘The Development Road’ has been completed while the path of the line has been determined, said Maytham Safi, information director at the Iraqi Transport Ministry.

“We are talking to some international companies to finalise contracts to purchase 50 locomotives for Development Road,” he told the official daily Alsabah.

Officials said in 2023 the project, which also comprises a parallel motorway, could cost nearly $17 billion and would link Faw Port under construction in South Iraq with Europe via the Northern border with Turkey

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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