Iraq approved a planned 1200 km railway and a parallel highway linking Iraq to Turkey, according to an Iraqi Transport Ministry statement picked up by Iraq News Agency. Linking Iraq’s Faw port to Turkey’s border, when completed, it is projected that the railway line will carry up to 55 mn tons of goods and c.14 mn passengers per year. The highway will be dedicated to the transport of goods and will not pass through cities.

The road will give Iraq wider access to Turkey and Europe: “The rail and the road will pass through several Iraqi governorates and end up at the border with Turkey … it will give us access to the Turkish Port of Mersin and then Istanbul and Europe,” Iraqi Transport Minister Razzak Al Saadawi is quoted as saying. The road will begin at the Grand Faw Port and pass through desert areas in Iraq, Al Saadawi said.

A new Silk Road? Connecting Asia and Europe through Turkey, the vision is for this to be the “new silk road of our region,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president in this statement. Iraqi officials want to capitalize on their “enormous gas wealth,” with known reserves reaching c.110 tn cubic feet, according to this US government report.

What’s next: A timeline for the project has not yet been agreed, but plans are for the project to be implemented in two phases, with the first phase reaching a capacity of transporting 22 mn tons of goods or the equivalent of 3.5 mn containers. The second phase will allow the railway to transport up to 7.5 mn containers and 33 mn tons of goods.

This is part of Iraq’s plans to become a transit hub to the EU: The project — along with the Grand Faw Port and the Dry Canal — provide the country with an important passage for transporting Iraqi oil and gas to Europe amid continued Western sanctions against Russia. It also helps the country provide modes of transport that bypass the Suez Canal.

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