THE BAGDAD RAILWAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 168, 15 July 1916, Page 13

THE BAGDAD RAILWAY.

PROGRESS OF A GREAT WORK,

The "Hamburger Fremdenblatt," in an article that has been translated by the New York ''Evening Post," gives ■some interesting particulars with regard to the present position of the Bagdad railway. Work on those portions of the line which were being constructed before the war began has been completed. Between Aleppo and Bagdad two sections of the line have been completely finished, and are now in use, viz., the section .from ilostomie to Bas-el-Am (about 186 miles) and the -section from Samarra (about eighty-eight miles). Between these sections lies the stretch of line from Ras-el-Ain to Jlossul, and thence to Samarra, about 355 miles long. In view of the difficulty at present of getting labour and material, it is not likely that work on this section can be begun until after the war. The paper continues: "Between Aleppo and IConia (and thence to Constantinople) the tunnels on the line, which is run through the Atnanus and the Tauni3 ranges, have not been finished. The Amanus line, however, has been connected with the Baghtache tunnel (about two miles long) since June 1, 1915, and the work is 'being so rapidly proceeded with that on February 1, 1910, the stretch of railway from lslalite to Mamure was to be opened as a branch line, and it is expected that it will be in full working order Dy October Ist next as the main line. After that it will only be necessary to complete the Taurus section of the line to link up the Syrian railway systems with Constantinople. There are, however, a numbet of tunnels to be constructed in this area, and their total length will pro ibably be about eight or nine jniles. This work can hardly be completed for twe years, and in the meantime 'the road is to be used in the places where the rail ■way will run by and by. The tota length of the Bagdad railway fron Haidar Pasha (opposite Constantinople) to Konia and thence to Bagdad is 2,43; kilometres, about 1,510 miles. Of this total mileage, including the Amanui brauch, opened on February. 1, 1,115 miles are now in use. , *