Railway battles terror threats to keep open local runs

Al Qaim: Railhead The unending suspension of Iraq's national railway stands as a stark symbol of the failure to rebuild the country.

Getting the network operating is not one of Washington's 18 benchmarks for progress in Iraq but the resumption of scheduled services along thousands of miles of track would mark a momentous breakthrough four years after the war to depose Saddam Hussain.

A remnant of brave railway staff remains on duty around the country, dreaming of the day they are called back into service.

Two Iraq Republic Railway inspectors at the remote desert railhead in Al Qaim have defied terrorist threats and criminal gangs to loyally keep the railway open on limited local runs.

Freight trains carrying supplies for a phosphorous plant are the only service offered at Al Qaim, which is also the main American base. "It's difficult to get restarted since we are targets because of our close ties to coalition forces," said station manager Inspector Khalid Waled Majeed.

"Half our employees still refuse to come to work. Fear for their lives keeps them at home."

Inspector Majeed and his colleagues take great pride in having kept the railway stock intact in one of Iraq's insurgency hotspots. Majeed and his deputy, Insaief Mohammad, have big plans for their stock of 30 trains, purchased under former regimes from seven countries. But even the obstacles to a test run inside the base are formidable.

The train must stop at a Marine guardpost, wait to be waved through and stop a second time for an on-board inspection with a sniffer dog. When a driver ignored a signal to stop earlier this year, the guards opened fire with explosive shells.

The driver panicked and derailed the vehicle, putting the track used to haul materials to cement factories, out of use. The incident eventually ruined American hopes of restarting train services in western Iraq this summer.