Author name:
اماني حسين عبد الرزاق البراك
Supervisor name:
اسعد عباس هندي الاسدي
Abstract:
The research addresses the reality of (Baghdad - Basra) railway line from several aspects , the historical development of the line and the natural and anthropogenic factors affecting line and study commercial activity for the line and the application of theory and study of main problems and obstacles and prospects for the future, Chapter I dealt with the study of the historical development of the railways over two distinct historic, first starts with the actual beginning in establishing railway lines in Iraq in 1912 as the Germans celebrating the laid of foundation stone for a railway project. The first train was running in 1914 and the First World War had a role in the evolution of the Iraqi railways for reasons imposed by the war. The Department then moved to the Iraqi Government in 1932, after which Iraqi railways have seen a set of accomplishments and some of the reforms can be considered a turning point in its history. The second stage started in 1950 and is a founding Board of Reconstruction as well as improved Iraq oil revenues; this phase has seen quantum leaps in railway projects in Iraq generally and on the Baghdad - Basra rail line.During the years (1930 - 1979) Iraqi Railways was able to conduct lots of works by improving its network and has made great achievements reflected positively on the carriage of goods and passengers, but began to decline in the 1980s.Following the outbreak of war as the Iraq - Iran war, the Gulf war and subsequent economic blockade and the 2003 Gulf war, which have impacted negatively on the railway, despite subsequent attempts at reconstruction until 2014 but the situation is still deteriorating, The only Iraqi railway line that stayed operational is (Baghdad - Basra) most other lines stopped working. As elements of the Iraqi rail transport experienced these stages up and down , that decrease the number of Baghdad - Basra line stations (40) station and several viaducts and bridges with 635 and 430 round arch and 500,000 concrete girder, 578,000 wooden keel , 9049 rail truck of various types. Chapter II dealt with geographical factors that effects direct and indirect impact on rail traffic on the line (Baghdad - Basra) including natural factors such as geographic location, geological structure, soil Surface topography, climate, and water resources which have great impact on the establishment of a network of railways on the Baghdad - Basra line where the track and cost, as well as the impact of these factors on the growth of rail transport and movement. There are also human factors played an important role in influencing the rail traffic on the line (Baghdad - Basra) and painted features of economic development of that region being the dominant governing factors and dominant were these factors Population growth in the study area and the political factor was decisive was the most prominent among these factors were influential in charting the backwardness and decline of railway line (Baghdad - Basra) as well as the economic factor, which demonstrated its impact on railway development in the 1970s and a decline in railway line following the decline of the Iraqi economy in the 1980s and subsequent decades. Chapter III dealt with the evolution of the activity of (Baghdad - Basra) railway line during the study period (1997 - 2014) that witnessed diverse activities of (Baghdad - Basra) railway line which addressed in the following three periods : - 1. The period of 1997 - 2002 has accomplished the transportation of 6,035,914 travelers achieving revenue of 11,638,973,250 dinars as well as cargo reached 872,290,305 tons achieving revenues in the amount of 19,135,173,559 dinars.2. The period of 2003 - 2008 in which 346,797 passengers transported achieving revenue of 982,550,275 dinars as well as cargo reached 1,425,729 tones achieving revenue of 8,145,372,660 Dinars.3. the period of 2009 - 2014 the total transported were 1,022,946 passengers, which achieved revenues of 11,638,973,250 Dinars as well as 3,388,686 tons of cargos that achieved revenue of 41520922169 Dinars Chapter IV dealt with the application of theory to wait found statistical results for my waiting on line stations (Baghdad - Basra) we came up with : 1 - 1. Despite of recording low waiting periods both in loading or unloading shipments, but this does not mean that the efficiency of such stations but has other reasons such as lack of trains or the lack of loaded or unloaded cargos.2. There are disparities in unloading and loading periods at the same station, sometimes due to the type of goods loaded or discharged.3. Despite the rise in the level of services, some stations recorded high rates of wait time due to large numbers trains in stations or additional reasons such as strict security measures followed in those stations, as Baghdad station.2 - 4. It appears through the research that some stations in spite of its limited capabilities, but performed significant tasks in the field of rail transportation as a Umm Qasr, which handling most Iraqi commercial activities, on the other hand stations like Maa”kal though it have tremendous capabilities but offering almost no services due to the lack of activities at Maa’kal port 5. Generally, the study recorded a decline in transportation by rail line (Baghdad - Basra) when compared to the rest of the railway services in neighboring countries.6. The study recorded a clear decline in railway transportation on (Baghdad - Basra) line due the reluctance of many transportation services of contracting with the Iraqi railways, and the adoption of other land transportation as alternative. - Chapter v dealt with the study of the problems and constraints of (Baghdad - Basra) railway line and future prospects we are as follows : - 1. The growth in the number of stations was slow in the study period as well as the growth of rail lines, making (Baghdad - Basra) railway line almost static and stabile. In sometimes numbers of passengers or freights went down as in 2007 were recorded.Despite slow growth, factors affecting (Baghdad - Basra) railway line will continue to evolve and progress in the future if the railways management, the Ministry of transport and other designated ministries like Ministry of planning and finance considered ways and plans to improve the railways in Iraq generally and Baghdad - Basra line due to its strategic importance
