Syrian Railways Corporation (, , CFS) is the national railway operator for the state of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, subordinate to the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

. It was established in 1956 and was headquartered in

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

. Syria's rail infrastructure has been severely compromised as a result of the ongoing conflict in the country.

History

The first railway in Syria opened when the country was part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, with the

gauge Gauge ( ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, especia ...

line from

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

to the port city of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

in present-day

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

opened in 1895. The Hejaz railway opened in 1908 between Damascus and

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

in present-day

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

also used gauge. Railways after this point were built to , including the

Baghdad Railway Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. The French wanted an extension of the standard gauge railway to connect with

Palestine Railways Palestine Railways (Arabic: سكة حديد فلسطين; Palestine Railways; Contemporary Hebrew: “Palestine Railways” or ; Present-day Hebrew: “Mandate Railways”) was a government-owned railway company that ran all public railways i ...

and so agreed the building of a

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

Tripoli, Lebanon Tripoli ( ; , , ; , ; see #Names, below) is the largest and most important city in North Lebanon, northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in the country. Situated north of the capital Beirut, it is the capital of the North Governorate ...

, operated by , also known as ''DHP''. The Baghdad Railway had progressed as far as

by 1912, with the branch to Tripoli complete, by the start of World War I; and onwards to

Nusaybin Nusaybin () is a municipality and district of Mardin Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,079 km2, and its population is 115,586 (2022). The city is populated by Kurds of different tribal affiliation. Nusaybin is separated from the larger Kurd ...

by October 1918. The Turks, who sided with Germany and the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...

, decided to recover the infrastructure south of Aleppo to the Lebanon in 1917. The Baghdad Railway created opportunity and problems for both sides, being unfinished but running just south of the then-defined Syrian–Turkish border. Post war, the border was redrawn, and the railway was now north of the border. DHP reinstated the Tripoli line by 1921. From 1922 the Baghdad Railway was worked in succession by two French companies, who were liquidated in 1933 when the border was again redrawn, placing the Baghdad Railway section again in Syrian control. (''LSB'') took over operations, a subsidiary of DHP. The next big developments in Syrian railways were due to the political manoeuvering leading up to and during World War II. As Turkey had sided with Germany in World War I, the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

were concerned with poor transport in the area, and their ability to bring force on the Turks. Having built railways extensions in both the Eastern and Western deserts of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, they initially operated services via the Hejaz Railway, but were frustrated by the need to transload goods due to the

gauge break With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally canno ...

. They surveyed a route from

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

Rayak Rayaq - Haouch Hala (), also romanization of Arabic, romanized Rayak, is a Lebanon, Lebanese town in the Beqaa Governorate, Beqaa Mohafazat, Governorate near the city of Zahlé. In the early 20th century and up to the 1975 outbreak of the Lebane ...

in 1941, but decided there were too many construction difficulties. The standard gauge line from

to Haifa was eventually built by

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

military engineers from South Africa and Oceania during World War II, in part supplied by a gauge railway to access materials. Ultimately, Turkey remained neutral and refused the Allies access to their jointly controlled sections of the Baghdad Railway, although by then the Allies had extended

' line from Beirut along the Lebanese coast, crossing into Syria near Al Akkari and from there to

Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...

Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...

and onward to connect with the Baghdad Railway at Aleppo. Locomotives servicing the Allied war effort included the British

R.A. Riddles Robert Arthur "Robin" Riddles, CBE, MIMechE, MinstLE (23 May 1892 – 18 June 1983) was a British locomotive design engineer. Biography LNWR and LMS Riddles was born in 1892 in East Preston in Worthing, Sussex. His father was a contractors' man ...

designed

WD Austerity 2-10-0 The War Department (United Kingdom), War Department (WD) "Austerity" 2-10-0 is a type of heavy freight steam locomotive that was introduced during the Second World War in 1943. Background The Austerity 2-10-0 was based on the WD Austerity 2-8- ...

, four of which post war went into Syrian service, designed CFS Class 150.6. In 1956 all railways in Syria were nationalised, and reorganised as CFS (Chemins de Fer Syriens) from 1 January 1965. Expanded with monetary and industrial assistance from the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the agreement covered the joint industrial development of the country. Covering the development of the ports of

Tartus Tartus ( / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarṭūs''; known in the County of Tripoli as Tortosa and also transliterated from French language, French Tartous) is a major port city on the Mediterranean coast of Syria. It is the second largest port city in Syria (af ...

and

Latakia Latakia (; ; Syrian Arabic, Syrian pronunciation: ) is the principal port city of Syria and capital city of the Latakia Governorate located on the Mediterranean coast. Historically, it has also been known as Laodicea in Syria or Laodicea ad Mar ...

, they were initially connected by rail to Al Akkari and Aleppo in 1968 and 1975 respectively. An

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

project on the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

, resulting in the construction of the

Tabqa Dam The Tabqa Dam (, ; ), or al-Thawra Dam as it is also named (, ; , literally "Revolution Dam"), most commonly known as Euphrates Dam (; ; ), is an earthen dam on the Euphrates, located upstream from the city of Raqqa in Raqqa Governorate, Syria ...

, drove the connection of Aleppo to

Al-Thawrah Al-Thawrah (), also known as Al-Tabqah (, Kurdish: ''Tebqa''), is a city in Raqqa Governorate, Syria, approximately west of Raqqa. Al-Thawrah was the original name the settlement, which up until the 1960s had been relatively small. The city ha ...

(1968),

Raqqa Raqqa (, also , Kurdish language, Kurdish: ''Reqa'') is a city in Syria on the North bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and b ...

(1972)

Deir ez Zor Deir ez-Zor () is the largest city in eastern Syria and the List of cities in Syria, seventh largest in the country. Located on the banks of the Euphrates to the northeast of the capital Damascus, Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the Deir ez-Zor Go ...

(1973), reaching the old Baghdad Railway at Al Qamishli in 1976. File:Syria 2007 009 Train Station Hidjaz Damascus (1540388921).jpg, Hejaz railway station, Damascus File:French Circassian Cavalry in Damascus, 1941.jpg, Colonel Philibert Collet's Circassian Cavalry outside the railway station at Damascus, 26 June 1941 File:Aleppo Bagdad Railway Station, cropped.jpg, Baghdad railway station in Aleppo, built in 1915 File:CFS Brücke Bagdadbahn.jpg, Bridge on the Aleppo-Latakia line File:CFS Euphratbrücke.jpg, Bridge over the

Euphrates river The Euphrates ( ; see below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originating in Turkey, the Euphrates flows through S ...

File:Latakia railway station.jpg, Latakia railway station File:216-A4 27 Deraa 20000912.jpg, Daraa railway station File:محطة القطار-Train Main station - panoramio.jpg, Main train station, Aleppo File:Baghdad Railway LOC 04665u.jpg, Baghdad Railway train, circa 1910 File:T E Lawrence and the Arab Revolt 1916 - 1918 Q59645.jpg, Hejaz Railway – Damascus square and pillar. The gabled building is the Hejaz Railway Line office.

Tramway

Current system

Network

All network and trains were operated by CFS. Using all diesel-electric powered traction, the main routes prior to the Syrian Civil War were: * Damascus–Homs–Hamah–Aleppo–Maydan Ikbis (- Ankara TCDD) * Aleppo–Latakia–Tartus–Al Akkari–Homs * Homs–Palmyra: freight only, opened for

phosphate Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...

s traffic, destined for the port of

, in 1980 * Line runs from the oilfields of Al Qamishli in the north to the port of

(750 km) * Al Akkari (- Tripoli CEL, out of use) * Aleppo–Deir ez-Zor–Al-Qamishli (- Nusaybin TCDD) * Extension from Homs southwards to Damascus (194 km) was opened in 1983 * Tartus-

line in 1992 * Al Qamishli–Al-Yaarubiyah (- IRR Iraq, out of use) * Damascus–Sheikh Miskin–Dera'a: under construction, to replace a section of Hejaz railway * Sheikh Miskin–Suwayda (under construction) * Palmyra–Deir ez-Zor–Abu Kemal (- IRR Iraq) (planned)

Current proposals

Prior to the war there was a proposal for a connection with

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

between

Deir ez-Zor Deir ez-Zor () is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh largest in the country. Located on the banks of the Euphrates to the northeast of the capital Damascus, Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. In the 2018 ...

and Al Qa’im. The abutments of bridges were built for double track but only the western trackbed was completed. The major Euphrates bridge, a steel girder construction, was completed to the southern border of Syria by 2015, just 3 km from Al Qa'im but Iraqi Railways did not complete the link. Three spans of the Euphrates bridge were destroyed as well as two sections of the approach viaducts during the last decade of warfare. The trackbed near the bridge shows bomb craters since Google Earth imagery dated 2017. Tracklaying never reached the Euphrates bridge. However, all international routes operated by Syrian Railways were already non-operational due to severe negligence by the Syrian government. It was then officially suspended due to the outbreak of the Syrian revolution. The restoration of the rail link with Iraq (

IRR IRR or Irr may refer to: Finance * Implied repo rate, in the futures market * Internal rate of return, a profitability metric * Iranian rial, currency of Iran by ISO 4217 code * Interest rate risk, financial risk from fluctuating interest rates O ...

) and the proposal to extend the railway from Al-Qaim in Iraq through Al-Bukamal in Syria to

for a total distance of 270 kilometers and thence to Tartus are as of 2022 under discussion.

Trackage

These were the figures prior to the ongoing Syrian conflict: * ''total:'' * ''standard gauge:'' gauge * ''narrow gauge:'' gauge (2000) Chemin de Fer de Hedjaz Syrie

Operations

The network is designed wholly around diesel-electric traction. For operational purposes CFS is divided into three regions: Central, Eastern and Northern. At the end of 2004 CFS employed around 12,400 staff. The system has a low level capacity, with top speed usually limited. A section of the Damascus–Aleppo line was designed for speeds reaching , but most of the track has a limit of . Most tracks of the CFS are limited to . Operational train speed is also limited by a lack of interlocked

signalling A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

, with most of the system operating by informal signalling. The Damascus al-Hijaz railway station, which lies in the city centre, is no longer operational, and the railway connections with other cities depart from the suburban station of

Qadam Qadam () is a municipality and a neighborhood in the southern part of Damascus, Syria, due west of Yarmouk Camp. History Prior to its urbanization and integration into Damascus municipality al-Qadam was a village on the Hajj caravan road called a ...

. The result is that most passenger traffic has moved to air-conditioned coaches, and freight traffic dominates the operational trackage. The 2005 introduction of South Korean-built

DMUs A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

, where drivers were trained using a

simulator A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

, on the Damascus–Aleppo route, and the high traffic Aleppo–

route where intermediate stations are bypassed, resulted in higher usage and occupancy levels. The only remaining section of narrow-gauge line, running from a point on the outskirts of Damascus into Jordan, is operated by

Hedjaz Jordan Railway Hejaz is a historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al-Bahah. It is thus known as the "Western Province", ...

International connections

The only international connection was with Turkey, but that link was halted due to the Syrian Civil War. The link with

, severed in the war of 2003, was restored for a time but closed again; there was a plan to reopen it in June 2009. In 2008 it was proposed to open a joint rolling stock factory with

Turkish State Railways The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey (), abbreviated as TCDD, is a government-owned national railway company responsible for the ownership and maintenance of railways in Turkey, as well as the planning and construction of new lines. TCDD ...

. Background on trains from Istanbul to Syria: A brief history of the Taurus Express:

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

wrote the first part of her novel ''

Murder on the Orient Express ''Murder on the Orient Express'' is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the U ...

'' during her stay in room 203 in

Baron Hotel Baron Hotel (also Baron's Hotel; or ''Le Baron''), is the oldest hotel that currently operates in Syria. It is located on Baron street in down-town Aleppo's Aziziyeh district. The Baron has sustained some civil war-related minor damage but is ...

. The novel doesn't start in Istanbul, or on the Orient Express. It opens on the platform at Aleppo, next to the two blue-and-gold Wagons-Lits sleeping cars of the Taurus Express bound for Istanbul. The Taurus Express was inaugurated in February 1930 by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the same company that operated the Orient Express and Simplon Orient Express, as a means of extending their services beyond Istanbul to the East. It ran several times a week from Istanbul Haydarpaşa station to Aleppo and Baghdad, with a weekly through sleeper to Tripoli in Lebanon. After the second world war, the Wagons-Lits company gradually withdrew and operation of the Taurus Express was taken over by the Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi state railways. Up until the late 1980s, a twice-weekly Istanbul-Baghdad service was maintained, with weekly through seating cars from Istanbul to Aleppo. For political reasons, the through service to Baghdad was suspended and the main train curtailed at Gaziantep, but the weekly through seat cars Istanbul-Aleppo were maintained. In 2001, the Aleppo portion of the Toros Express was speeded-up and given a proper Syrian sleeping-car instead of the two very basic Turkish seat cars. You could once again travel in the security and comfort of a proper sleeper from Istanbul to Syria, and it was a great way to go.

Rolling stock

Current

Motive power

The motive power in 2009 was noted as:

= Passenger vehicles

= The railway possessed: * Passenger carriages: almost all OSShD-Y obtained mainly from the former

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, the newest of which were obtained from

Căile Ferate Române Căile Ferate Române (; abbreviated as the CFR) was the state railway carrier of Romania. The company was dissolved on 1 October 1998 by splitting into several successor companies. CFR as an entity existed from 1880, even though the first ra ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Polish State Railways The Polish State Railways ( , abbr.: PKP S.A.) is a Polish state-owned holding company (legally a sole-shareholder company of the State Treasury) comprising the rail transport holdings of the country's formerly dominant namesake railway oper ...

* The stock of 483 carriages includes: 19 restaurant, 45 sleepers and 33 baggage vans. In 2001, Iranian company Wagon Pars refurbished some stock which is still in use, while the remaining unused stock lie rotting in sidings.

= Freight wagons

Goods wagon Goods wagons or freight wagons (North America: freight cars), also known as goods carriages, goods trucks, freight carriages or freight trucks, are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation of cargo. A variety of wagon types ...

s: freight trains are organised into block workings, covering shipments of: oil, natural gas,

phosphates Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphor ...

, grain, cement,

containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

, construction materials and other transports. Most of 4319 vehicles were built between 1960 and 1975, with the most modern stock the grain wagons imported from Iran in the early 1990s. Approximate figures for stock: ** 1294 Heavy Flat wagons ** 846 Open wagons ** 818 Oil tankers ** 762 Covered wagons ** 597 Grain wagons ** 323 Phosphate wagons ** 178 Sliding wall wagons ** 146 Self unloading wagons ** 53 Flat wagons ** 50 Natural gas tankers ** 45 Cement wagons ** 20 Water tankers ** 19 Tippers

Retired

References

External links

*
UN Map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chemins De Fer Syriens Rail transport in Syria Railway companies of Syria Government-owned companies of Syria Aleppo Standard-gauge railways in Syria 1050 mm gauge railways in Syria Ottoman railways