Iraq plans to execute $60bn worth of national railway projects in the next five years as the country rebuilds its crumbling infrastructure.

The projects involve the construction and rehabilitation of six major rail lines that will form Iraq’s national railway network when they are completed as planned in 2014.

However, before construction can start on the railways, Iraq needs to find the money to finance them and is asking international companies to express an interest in investing.

“The bidding [is] based on the investment law [and] that means the investors should build these links and manage the project. They [will] get the funds back by having the returns for many years, between 20 and 50 years,” says a source at the Salahaddin Investment Commission, which is overseeing the railway projects and is also part of Iraq’s wider National Investment Commission.

The six railway lines will run all across Iraq and will cover more than 1,243 kilometres when complete.

One scheme involves the rehabilitation of what is known as the North-South line. It runs from Salahaddin province in northern Iraq through Baghdad, Kut, Aumarrah to Basra in the south. The line will be 700km in length.

A second line will connect Baghdad in the centre of the country with Baquba, Kirkuk, Irbil and Mosul in the far north.

A new Baghdad Circular Railway involves building a 112km loop line around Baghdad itself. When complete, the line will be able to transport 23 million passengers a year and 46 million tonnes of goods.

The project is expected to take four years to complete (MEED 25:1:10).

Iraq is also seeking investment to build a 228km line that will run from Musaib through Karbala and Najaf and on to Samawah in the south. This line will have 14 stations and will be able to carry eight million passengers a year.

The Karbala-Ramadi railway will run from Karbala in the south to Ramadi, west of Baghdad. This 113-kilometre railway is designed to connect the southern provinces of Karbala and Najaf with the phosphate mine in Akashat. In the 1980s, there were also plans to extend this line into Jordan.

A final rail project involves building a new 90km, predominantly freight line that will connect the Grand Faw port in Basra with the national railway network.

Iraq’s transportation sector is now booming with more than $17bn worth of projects under way after having been devastated by the years of war and economic sanctions.

The main driver of these projects, such as the $3bn Baghdad metro is to alleviate congestion, especially in Baghdad and to improve trade links (MEED 17:3:10).