Aleppo-Sana
The workers of the General Organization of Syrian Railways continue the work of rehabilitating the railway line connecting Aleppo with Damascus after it was stopped for more than 8 years due to terrorist attacks despite the difficult weather conditions and with manual and mechanical work that needs double efforts in the absence of modern technical means for maintenance due to the economic blockade imposed on Syria.
Dr. Najeeb Al-Faris, Director General of the Foundation, stated to the SANA correspondent that work is currently underway to rehabilitate and maintain the railway line from Aleppo to Damascus, passing through the governorates of Hama and Homs, with a length of 400 km, which has been sabotaged by terrorism, indicating that during the past months the maintenance and restoration of the distance from Muhin station in Homs towards Al-Qadam station in Damascus and the introduction of a train to ship grain from the Syrian ports towards grain silos and mills in Al-Sabinah after it was rehabilitated as a trial phase to run trains according to the available capabilities and currently this distance has been finalized and it remains only to restore the railway line and correct its course on its axis and its design level that it was. Before it was damaged.
He mentioned that during the past months, work has also been done to rehabilitate the section extending from the Sunisel station in Homs through the Hur station himself in Hama to Aleppo, pointing out that terrorism destroyed a free bridge by itself in 2012, which led to its dismissal from service, and work was done to restore and maintain it and became ready. The railway line has been extended over this bridge, indicating that the length of the stolen distance from the iron bars and the upper section is completely within 12 km from Snisel to the free station itself, passing through this bridge.
Al-Faris pointed out that the restoration of two bridges in the regions of Qamhana and Sinjar and some places where the components of the railway line were subjected to looting and theft, in addition to the planting of technical keys in stations such as Sinjar, Abu Dahour, Hamdaniya, Har himself and Sunisel, and this distance is being extensively restored in several locations by the Foundation's workshops. It works on gravel brushes and returns the railway axis to its level to run freight and passenger trains safely, according to the available capabilities.
He pointed out that prefabricated rooms were secured from the public sector to be placed in these stations and surface lanes intersecting with land roads in order to compensate for the numbered destroyed stations on this axis 17 in addition to two completely destroyed stations, stressing that the stations will be illuminated with alternative energy to achieve the safety of the trains. Installing and equipping them to receive and transfer trains. Also, the Baghdad station and its lounges in Aleppo are being restored to prepare them to receive travelers.
He also confirmed that the trains will stop at Hama, Homs and Al Qadam stations in Damascus pending the completion of the rehabilitation work on this axis soon, and passenger trains will be tested and freighted on them in order to fully stabilize the railway and achieve safety, noting that work is currently underway with the Electricity Company to rehabilitate the railway link from Al-Dameer station towards the thermal station in Aleppo, and it will be completed by the end of this year to transport the fuel to the station and generate electricity, indicating that the grain silos on this axis have been connected to the railways and the rehabilitation of the branches that arrived at the station in Shanshar, Nasiriyah, Sbina and Al-Walid in Homs to secure the transportation of grain to it from the Syrian ports. Coordination with the Grain Corporation to activate the silos of Tal Balat in Aleppo and rehabilitate the railway link to it to transport the grain.
Al-Faris explained that the organization’s workshops specializing in movable and mobile tools were able to equip 4 groups to transport passengers, a train seat, each group has a capacity of 283 passengers, and it is being tested towards the Abu Dahour station to be ready to transport passengers after entering the service line to Damascus and vice versa, and these works are done with the expertise and staff of the institution, pointing to securing communication devices. Wireless network between stations and trains to achieve the best environment for the safety of train traffic and passengers.
As for cargo locomotives, emergency repair and maintenance centers have been established in Homs, Tartous and Aleppo to carry out emergency and main maintenance of these locomotives and freight transport trucks, and there are works being done in the dry port and container yard in Hassia’s industrial city, where the implementation rate for the total work is around 77 percent, and there is a dry port and container yard project. From Jibreen to the industrial city of Sheikh Najjar in Aleppo, where work is being done to acquire the project, the study was finally received, and work is underway to secure the necessary funds for its implementation, which will positively reflect on facilitating transactions for industrialists and commercial activities, relieving the burden on Syrian ports through dry ports, reducing prices on the costs of producing goods and encouraging Export.
A SANA camera accompanied the workers and staff of the railway line maintenance on board the train set that departed from Baghdad station in Aleppo towards the Sinjar area in Idlib countryside to conduct a technical examination of the railway line and see the maintenance work and replace the damaged parts where the train driver Jamil Halloum explained that the train set is being tried Towards the axis of Aleppo, Hama, to the Sinjar region, to ensure the readiness of the group and the railway line to be put into service, pointing out that the rehabilitation works include gravel brushes and the repair of iron bars, wooden and concrete beams.
After reaching the site of replacing and maintaining the railway network at the Sinjar site, the Sana camera monitored the relentless movement of the workers and workshops of the corporation despite the rain, with modest capabilities and manual means to dismantle and replace the damaged parts, as Eng. Ibrahim Khadro, Director of Movement and Transportation at the General Organization of Syrian Railways and the Director of the Corporation's branch in Aleppo, indicated that maintenance work is being done. On the railway line at a distance of more than 80 km from Aleppo towards Hama with local cadres to complete the rehabilitation and open the line towards Damascus to run passenger trains and transport goods, pointing out that some parts of the line were damaged while walking on it from Aleppo to the site of Sinjar, which was repaired in addition to working to avoid all defects to enable Trains can travel at required speeds.
Khaled Al-Issa, head of the Foundation's Fixed Facilities Division, pointed out that a technical examination has been made on the entire axis from Aleppo to Hama and a plan has been drawn up by the corporation to rehabilitate the parts that were subjected to vandalism despite the few technical capabilities available where the damaged wooden beams and the damaged iron rods are replaced to restore the axis as it was. .
Qusay Razzouk
