Syrian railways recovering their vitality and preparing for reconstruction stage

Aleppo, SANA – The rehabilitation and maintenance of railways, particularly those damaged due to terrorism, constitute an economic and services necessity, as the railways play a key role in shipping goods to dry ports and transporting passengers between areas and cities. Aleppo is currently witnessing the implementation of a number of railway projects, head of the General Establishment of Syrian Railways Najib al-Faris told SANA. Al-Faris clarified that maintenance of the Aleppo-Damascus railway is underway, which will soon allow passenger and freight trains to run on it again, in addition to connecting power stations and granaries. Maintenance is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2019. He added that the railway to Jebrin east of Aleppo has been repaired, and is now transporting passengers from Jebrin to Baghdad Station in Aleppo city, going through Sheikh Saeed, al-Ansari, and al-Sukkari areas. Al-Faris said recent projects focused on the economic sector, including a branch for transporting grains from ports to Shenshar granaries in Homs, and repairing railways from ports to phosphates mines. Faris noted that establishment is currently building a loading station in Hassia quarries, and a 18 km branch from Hassia quarries to Qatina station to transport gravel to provinces, adding that this project is expected to be completed by mid-2019. He indicated that the establishment is also working towards linking the marine ports to dry ports, including al-Sheikh Najjar port in Aleppo, Hassia in Homs, and Adra in Damascus countryside. Al-Faris said that the dry ports and their branch railways transport raw materials from ports to industrial cities, and manufactured materials for exportation in the other direction.