Trans-Iranian Railway

Trans-Iranian Railway
Trans-Iranian Railway 1938
Route length:	1404 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend Turkmenistan / Iran Aschk Tappeh Incheh Boroon Jampi 496.8 Gorgan 477.0 Sabs Dascht (Qara Tapeh) 8.3 Bandar-e Torkaman port 0.0 461.0 Bandar-e Torkaman 448.0 cord 440.8 Bandar-e Gas 429.0 Galugach 421.0 Tirtash 416.0 Lemrask 410.0 Rekawand 403.3 Behschahr 22.0 Bandar Amir Abad 0.0 392.0 Rostamkola 380.2 Neka 371.0 Shahid Nowbacht 354.2 sari 338.0 Gunibafi 333.8 Qa'emshar 324.3 Shirgah 297.1 Sirab 286.3 Pol-e Sefid 270.0 Sawad cow 259.5 Get out of here 246.2 Wersek 3 loops 235.9 Dogal Reverse loop Double turn ("8") Summit tunnel 2750 m 218.0 Gaduk 208.0 Kalarchan 202.9 Firus cow 189.0 Mahabad 183.0 Dardeh 174.2 Sarin Dascht 161.8 Simin Dascht 146.7 Kabutar Darreh 129.0 Bun-i-cow Garmsar – Mashhad railway line 114.3 Garmsar 88.5 Kawir 64.6 Abardesch 53.1 Weak 43.6 Varamin 26.0 Bahram Tehran southern bypass 9.7 Rey Tehran – Isfahan railway line 0.0 Tehran Tehran – Tabriz railway line 9.7 Tappeh Sefid Tehran southern bypass 20.8 Eslamshahr Robat Karim Robat Karim-Sanandaj railway line 35.4 Schahrejar 45.1 Sangui 59.5 Rud-i-Schur 72.4 Spades 80.5 Parandak 93.0 Farajabad 99.8 Nahid 115.9 Kuhpeng Andschilawand – Hamadan railway line 133.6 Andjila Wall 146.4 Nandedj 158.0 Faisabad 165.8 Peli Ringbahn Qom Ringbahn Qom 180.2 Qom Ringbahn Qom to the Tehran – Isfahan high-speed line and according to Bafq 199.5 Saqeh 218.9 Baqjek 229.0 Garangan 233.3 Savarjan 239.5 Banabar 247.8 Rahgerd 246.1 Nangerd 284.8 Muschkabad 304.2 Malakabad 308.8 Ahmadabad 322.0 Chaqa 318.6 Arak Arak – Kermanshah railway line 325.0 Senedjan 337.6 Seed organ 349.0 Chamlabad 354.0 Shasand 360.0 Tork 371.7 Nurabad 380.0 Lagubeh 387.8 Somajjeh 400.7 Mamun 418.4 Asna 439.3 Darband 453.8 Rudak 466.7 Dow'rud 476.3 Qarun 494.0 Bisheh 508.5 Sepit Dascht 520.0 Tschamschekar 526.2 Tschamsangar 540.7 Keschwar 555.2 Tange-i-Haft 571.3 Tange-e-Pandsch 589.0 Taleh Sang 596.0 Toweh 601.9 Shahbasan 611.0 Kapi 618.0 Masu 637.3 Balarud 650.0 Golmahak 663.0 Dokuheh 675.9 Andimeschk 692.0 Sabs-ab 706.5 Shush 721.0 Haft Tappeh to Shushar 737.0 Mijan-ab 751.5 Ahudascht 770.8 Dezful 775.7 Bamdetsch 783.7 Chawar 798.2 Nesamia 814 0.0 815.9 Ahwaz Shenawar Rud-e Karun 19.3 Ab-i-Tumair 40.2 Hamid 50.1 Tarasi 61.2 Ahu 80.5 Hoseinieh formerly in Iraq 101.4 Gamdash 121.1 Khorramshahr Shalamcheh to Basra (Project) 820.7 Karun 825.0 Qods 832.0 Mijan Dascht 851.0 Khosrawi 863.0 Hanatije 867.8 Mansuri 887.5 Gorgor 898.6 Marqsar 914.5 0.0 Sar Bandar Persian Gulf 919.0 Eskelen Persian Gulf Persian Gulf Persian Gulf 927.0 Bandar-e Imam Khomeini 6.5 Bandar-e Maschur 7.0 Bandar-e Mahshahr 34.5 0.0 Owdeh 25.0 Sowejreh 51.0 Omidijeh

The Trans-Iranian Railway was built between 1927 and 1938. It connects the capital Tehran with the Persian Gulf in the south of the country and the Caspian Sea in the north. The line is the nucleus of the Iranian Railway . It has been recognized as a World Heritage Site since 2021 .

Political blockade of the railway construction

The first plans to build a railway in Iran date back to the reign of Nasser-Din Shah . However, in the 19th century Iran (then Persia) found itself in a conflict of interests between the Russian Empire , which was looking for access to the Persian Gulf from the north, and Great Britain , which wanted to prevent this in the interests of its colony British India . All railway projects in Iran at that time are to be seen under this conflict of interest and, with the exception of the relatively short railway line Tabriz – Jolfa , failed because of it.

Basics of construction

Reza Shah Pahlavi considered the construction of a railway indispensable as a central investment in the infrastructure of Iran as part of a national development and industrialization program. The construction of the railway was supposed to adapt the transport system in Iran to the requirements of a modern country in addition to the construction of highways.

Great Britain tried to prevent the construction of the railway because it preferred a railway from west to east to create a connection between Iraq, which was allied with England after the First World War, and British India. Reza Shah opted for the north-south connection because it was more economically important for Iran. This was possible because no loans had to be taken abroad to finance the construction project, but the railway construction could be financed by the state: an additional tax of two rials per three kilograms and six gherans for three kilograms of tea was levied on sugar . The import and export of tea and sugar as well as all sugar products were nationalized. With these measures, there was a complete reorientation of the development of Iran: Although experts from abroad were still commissioned for development projects, the decision and financing were now in the hands of the Iranian government.

Construction from 1925 to 1938

Preliminary work

The first preparatory work for the plan to connect the Persian Gulf with the Caspian Sea by a railroad was carried out from 1924 by the American company Henry Ulen & Company . The planning and construction of the railway line posed particular challenges for the railway engineers, as extreme inclines had to be overcome in addition to desert areas. In the south, the orbit began at sea level and at its highest point in Arak reached 2,200 meters above sea level. A total of 230 tunnels and 4,100 bridges and culverts had to be built.

First construction phase

Reza Shah Pahlavi and the then Crown Prince and later Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi at the window of a saloon car

Construction of the Trans-Iranian Railway

In April 1928, Iran placed an order for the first construction phase with an American-German Syndicat pour Chemins de Fer en Perse . On the American side, this consisted of Henry Ulen & Company, and on the German side, the consortium for construction work in Persia . In the Consortium for Bauausführungen in Persia itself had Julius Berger consortium , Berlin , Philipp Holzmann AG, Frankfurt am Main , as well as Siemens Bauunion GmbH, Berlin, together.

The southern section was built by the Americans, the German consortium built the 128 km stretch from Bandar-e Shah (today: Bandar-e Torkaman ) on the Caspian Sea to Shahi, today's Qaem-Shahr . Telecommunications and vehicles were imported from Germany, cement and tracks from the Soviet Union . In 1931 this section could be handed over ready for operation. The costs for the entire route should be reliably determined from the billing of these two sections .

By the end of 1929, the construction of these first sections had progressed so far that Reza Shah Pahlavi wanted to drive on them personally. In October 1929 he drove the northern route between Bandar-e Gas and Sari , which was successful. Then he wanted to travel the southern section. So he drove in December 1929 the section from Dezful to Bandar Shahpur . The return trip was scheduled for 10 January 1930 and ended in disaster: After heavy rains derailed the lounge car of the Shah because the new track bed was soaked. Your Majesty drove on in another car at first . The back aufgegleiste saloon car was the Court Train tracked by a second locomotive and derailed, as in the eyes of the monarch he had almost reached his goal, again. The journey ended in pouring rain - the roads were no longer passable - in Ahwaz , where the Shah was trapped until January 25, 1930. The Persian government then largely stopped its payments to Henry Ulen & Company . An ultimate demand for payment from their side had no effect, rather the Persian government confiscated the approximately 90% completed railway on May 15, 1930. The Americans withdrew from the project. The German-American Syndicate pour Chemins de Fer en Perse was subsequently dissolved at a conference in Bad Kissingen .

The German consortium subsequently received the further order - based on the already completed northern route - to plan the further route . For this purpose, 590 km of the route were measured with aerial photographs and 310 km from the ground.

completion

Tehran Central Railway Station

Veresk Bridge : 110 m high and 66 m span

Gorgan train station

The German part now hoped for the contract to continue building did not materialize. The Iranian government wanted to continue this prestigious national project independently with foreign engineers employed directly by it. It turned out that this type of project organization would have delayed the completion of the remaining 1,000 km considerably. For this reason, the further planning work was assigned to a Danish-Swedish consortium under the leadership of the Kampsax company in 1933 . The contract with Kampsax stipulated that the construction of the remaining section of the Trans-Iranian Railway had to be completed in six years. Kampsax was selected on the instructions of Reza Shah after reading reports on the construction of a 1,000 km long railway line by Kampsax in mountainous terrain in Turkey and being convinced of the skills of the engineers. The project management was taken over by the co-founder of Kampsax , the Danish engineer Jørgen Saxild. Kampsax carried out the project planning, the surveying work , the planning of the route and the construction supervision. The construction of individual sections of the route as well as the construction of the signal systems and train stations were awarded to a number of European construction companies who were subcontractors for Kampsax . In the section north of Tehran, mainly Italian companies with the relevant experience in tunnel construction were employed. The route leading through mountainous terrain required 251 large and 4,000 smaller bridges as well as 245 tunnels with a total length of 80 km. In addition to the foreign engineers and skilled workers, 55,000 Iranians were involved in the construction of the railway. The only major contract that was still going to a German company was the construction of the high-rise buildings for the Tehran train station . Kampsax completed the line after five years and four months and thus earlier than contractually agreed, so that the inauguration could already be celebrated on August 26, 1938.

The railway connected the cities of Bandar-e Schahpur (today: Bandar-e Imam Chomeini ) on the Persian Gulf with Bandar-e Shah (today: Bandar-e Torkaman) in the north via Ahwaz , Qom and Tehran . In Iran it was seen as a major success of Reza Shah's development policy, as it provided evidence that such a gigantic infrastructure project was possible with one's own financial means. In this respect, the railway initially had more political than economic effects.

business

65 steam locomotives were purchased from Germany to operate the railway . 24 of which the series 41.11 presented the Friedrich Krupp AG ago, 16 of the series 41.35 Henschel & Son and nine of the series 41.51 the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen . The remaining 16 locomotives came from Henschel as class 51.01. Another 10 locomotives that had been used in the construction of the railway were taken over by Kampsax . 10 units of the five-coupler type of the Austrian class 80 were purchased as construction locomotives .

The training of Iranian railway engineers, who took over the operation of the railway independently after the opening, took place in the Reichsbahnzentralschule in Kirchmöser in the Mark Brandenburg region .

The Persian Corridor

→ Main article : Persian Corridor

Three years after the railway went into operation on August 26, 1938, the Iranian industrialization and development program came to an abrupt end on August 25, 1941. British and Soviet troops invaded Iran as part of the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran and seized the Trans-Iranian Railway. The aim of the occupation was to build a transport corridor from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea in order to be able to supply the Soviet troops with weapons and equipment from there. The Persian Corridor was born.

At the beginning of September 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill had asked Harry Hopkins , the former trade minister sent to Great Britain by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt , whether the Americans could use locomotives and freight cars for transport under the loan and lease program that came into force in Iran on March 11, 1941 could provide military goods to the Soviet Union. Churchill also suggested that the Americans actively participate in the expansion of the Iranian railway lines, roads and ports from Bandar-e Shapur (today: Bandar-e Imam Chomeini ) on the Persian Gulf and Bandar-e Shah (today: Bandar-e Torkaman) on the Caspian Sea in front.

Roosevelt established the Persian Gulf Command (PGC) under the leadership of Major General Donald H. Connolly. In 1942 it replaced the British troops, which were urgently needed in other theaters of war. A total of 30,000 American soldiers, engineers and specialists were busy organizing the arms deliveries to the Soviet Union through the Persian Corridor. This included the operation of the southern section of the Trans-Iranian Railway.

Expansion by British troops in 1941

British Royal Engineers and Soviet railroad workers took over rail operations immediately after the occupation of Tehran. The British took over the operation of the southern section of the route between Tehran and Bandar-e Shahpur on the Persian Gulf, and the Soviet military took over the route north of Tehran to Bandar-e Shah on the Caspian Sea. The Royal Engineers expanded the infrastructure and extended the route to Khorramshahr on the Shatt al-Arab .

Initially, only one freight train with 978 tons could run per day . The Ahvaz depot housed nine German, two British, two Austrian and seven other smaller locomotives. A total of 27 steam locomotives were operational in February 1941. In December 1941 Great Britain delivered some locomotives and 840 freight cars with a capacity of 20 tons each. The existing German locomotives were given to the Soviet Union in order to increase the transport capacity in the north. From February to August 1942, 96 diesel locomotives and 19 more steam locomotives were added. In the same year, the Davenport Locomotive Works also delivered 34 diesel locomotives that Iran had ordered in England before the war.

Operated by US and Soviet troops 1942–1945

A train with supplies for the Soviet Army

Persian Gulf Command camps, posts and stations

In December 1942, the United States Army Transportation Corps (USATC) replaced the British forces as part of the Persian Gulf Command. The operation of the railway under wartime conditions was initially associated with considerable difficulties. The route has 144 tunnels on a section of 266 km. The working conditions for the train drivers were particularly bad due to smoke and exhaust gases. There were also problems with the water supply for the steam locomotives and the harsh climatic conditions in the south of the country. The USATC gradually replaced the steam locomotives with diesel locomotives of the ALCO RSD-1 series .

By September 1943, this increased the transport capacity to 5,400 tons per day. In May 1943, American deliveries rose to over 100,000 tons per month, more than ten times the British. The Persian corridor was the decisive transport route , especially in 1943 and 1944 in preparation for Operation Bagration , the great offensive of the Red Army on the German-Soviet front that began on June 22, 1944 . 241 shiploads with a total of 1.6 million tons of material were handled in 1943 and 240 shiploads with 1.7 million tons in 1944. From November 1941 to May 1945 a total of 646 shiploads with 4.1 million tons were shipped for the USSR via the Persian supply route - almost 25% of the total material delivered to the USSR. The possibility of moving a large part of the transports on this route reduced the losses caused by German armed forces from 15% to 2%.

In the final stage, 57 diesel locomotives were available for transport in southern Iran. 91 locomotives and 3,000 freight wagons were used for the route from Andimeschk to Tehran. By 1944, the transport capacity had increased to around 6,500 tons per day.

After the Second World War

Remains of the loading bridge from the Second World War in Bandar-e Torkaman

After 1945

In May 1945 the American railroad workers were withdrawn and the British took over the railway operations again for a few months until they returned it to the Iranians. After the Second World War, the further expansion of the Iranian railway got off to a slow start due to a lack of financial resources. For the expansion of the Iranian railway network, the Trans-Iranian Railway was the main line from which the expansion branched off.

→ Main article : Rail transport in Iran

The line itself was extended in 1960 behind the previous northern terminal station Bandar-e Torkaman by 36 km to Gorgan .

The branch line from Ahwaz to Khorramshahr was badly damaged in the Iranian-Iraqi war , so that traffic was idle from 1980 to 1988.

In 2007, an agreement was signed between the three neighboring states of Kazakhstan , Turkmenistan and Iran on the construction of a railway line connecting the two countries , and construction began in 2009. In Iran it formed the northern extension of the Trans-Iranian Railway. On December 3, 2014, this northern extension to the Turkmenistan border and cross-border traffic to there was opened. The presidents of the three countries drove in a saloon car from Turkmenistan across the border into Iran.

Further expansion

On the occasion of the state visit of Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin to Iran on November 23, 2015, a contract was signed that also regulates the financing of the electrification of the northernmost section of the Trans-Iranian Railway from the Turkmen border to Garmsar . Russia is providing an export credit for this. The electrification is carried out with the 25 kV / 50 Hz customary in Iran. The numerous tunnels along the route have to be widened for this. The work officially started on July 2, 2018 and should take 52 months to complete. The work was started by RZD International . On April 2, 2020, RZD International withdrew from this project - as well as all others in Iran - and closed its office in Tehran. There was no explanation for this. According to press reports, it may be related to US sanctions or repeated conflicts with the Iranian side over costs and priorities in the project.

World Heritage

The railway has been on the UNESCO tentative list for recognition as a World Heritage Site since 2017 . The recording took place on July 25, 2021.

literature

• Patrick Clawson: Knitting Iran Together: The Land Transport Revolution, 1920-1940. In: Iranian Studies. Vol. 25, H. 3, pp. 235-250.
• John A. DeNovo: American interests and policies in the Middle East . University of Minnesota 1963.
• Matthias Hille and Thomas Kabisch: From the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf - Diesel power on the Trans-Iranian Railway . In: Fern-Express 3/2016, pp. 4–13.
• Hugh Hughes: Middle East Railways. Continental Railway Circle, Harrow 1981, ISBN 0-9503469-7-7 , pp. 101-113.
• Manfred Pohl: Philipp Holzmann - History of a Construction Company 1849–1999. CH Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-45339-2 , pp. 189ff.
• Bernd Seiler: Varesk Viaduct . In: BAHN epoch . 2016, p. 8–9 ( PDF ).
• DW Spring: The Trans-Persian Railway Project and Anglo-Russian Relations, 1909-1914. In: The Slavonic and East European Review. Vol. 54, H. 1, pp. 60-82.
• R. Tourett: United States Army Transportation Corps Locomotives. Tourret Publishing, Abingdon 1977, ISBN 0-905878-01-9 .
• R. Tourett: War Department Locomotives. Tourret Publishing, Abingdon 1976, ISBN 0-905878-00-0 .
• Edwin M. Wright: Iran as a gateway to Russia . In: Foreign Affairs. Vol. 20, H. 2, 1942, pp. 367-371.

Web links

• Trans-Iranian Railway on the UNESCO site
• RAI advertising film - contains historical footage of the construction of the Trans-Iranian Railway.

Remarks

1. ↑ Kilometrage Gorgan – Bandar-e Imam Khomeini; Kilometrage Sabs Dascht (Qara Tapeh) –Turkmen border not determined.
2. ↑ A total of 90 km; up to Malayer in operation, Malayer – Kermanschah section under construction. (2016)
3. ↑ The onward connection to Özen in Kazakhstan had already been opened in 2013 (NN: Opening of a new railway line Kazakhstan - Turmenistan - Iran . In: Zeitschrift der OSJD , Vol. 57, No. 6 (2014), pp. 2-4. ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Law of 9 Chordad 1304/30. May 1925; Pohl, p. 190.
2. ↑ Pohl, p. 189.
3. ↑ Pohl, p. 189.
4. ^ John A. De-Novo: American Interests and Policies in the Middle East . 1900-1939. Minneapolis 1963, p. 300f (after: Unfortunate Incidents With Royal Saloon in Persia in 1930. In: HaRakevet 106 (September 2014), p. 18).
5. ↑ Pohl, p. 189.
6. ↑ Pohl, p. 189 ff.
7. ↑ Pohl, p. 190 f.
8. ^ Hughes, p. 105.
9. ↑ Jerry A. Pinkepank: The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide . Kalmbach Books 1973, p. 233.
10. ^ Clawson, p. 241.
11. ↑ Military Encyclopedic Dictionary. P. 60.
12. ↑ Hans-Joachim Mau, Hans Heiri Stapfer: Under the Red Star - Lend Lease Aircraft for the Soviet Union 1941-1945. transpress, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-344-70710-8 ; Wolfgang hose: Armaments aid of the USA 1939–1945. Bernard & Graefe, Koblenz 1985, ISBN 3-7637-5475-X .
13. ↑ Johannes Heger: The unofficial Homepage of the Iranian Railways ( Memento of the original from December 7th, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
14. ↑ Robinson, pp. 19, 22 (note 5).
15. ^ NN: Opening of a new railway line Kazakhstan - Turmenistan - Iran . In: Journal of the OSJD , Vol. 57, No. 6 (2014), pp. 2-4.
16. ↑ HaRakevet 112 (March 2016), 112: 07 Other Middle East Railways, A. Iran (i), p. 16.
17. ^ Message from Railway Gazette International of July 9, 2018. In: HaRakevet 122 (September 2018), p. 26.
18. ↑ Russian Railways pulls out of Iranian infrastructure work . In: Railway Gazette International of April 2, 2020; accessed on July 8, 2020.
19. ↑ Entry in the tentative list of UNESCO , archived version from July 11, 2021
20. ↑ Cultural sites in China, India, Iran and Spain inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Press release on the UNESCO website of July 25, 2021, accessed on the same day. (English)